Jan O’Neil’s Think Twice, Click Once is a now finalist in Media Predict’s Project Publish contest with Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. We checked in with Jan for a quick e-mail interview.

First question: tell us the story of what you’ve gone through to try to get your book into print.

I started writing this book over eight years ago.  I was the senior marketing communications manager for a Fortune 500 company and resigned to become a stay-at-home mom.  To keep the brain going between loads of laundry and dirty diapers, writing this book gave me the opportunity to escape to the office with the hope of helping fellow professionals.
Getting the book into print was much more excruciating than I thought.   You not only have to woo an agent — the agent has to woo a publisher.  Media Predict certainly made the process more enjoyable.

You’ve collected some hilarious anecdotes about bad e-mail use, most of which are in the book. What’s the worst example you can think of?

Have you read the news recently?  Bad e-mail stories ar e popping up everyday.  One just occurred recently when an airline CEO responded to a customer complaint issue by pressing “reply all,” which included the customer. The CEO’s response said, “ . . . we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned.  Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.” That’s a big oops.

Why does this stuff keep happening?  We all know that e-mail has drastically changed the way we communicate, yet it should never have changed how we communicate.  Only a decade ago, most professionals relied on the “discerning eye” of the secretary to manage the communication tasks of the office.  Today, the assistant has been tragically replaced by the personal computer, giving way to professionals to spew scores of poorly composed e-mails.  Think Twice, Click Once is a handbook that gives professionals the know-how to better manage communication. 

A commenter on the site once said that e-mail tends to be more casual, and therefore, a formal style book doesn’t make sense. What’s your reply to that?

Don’t get me started!  Business is business and Think Twice, Click Once is a business handbook.  When we communicate to family and friends, of course, our style is casual.  However, business writing — whether it’s on paper, e-mail, or on the bottom of a box — must be professional.  The main objective in business is to convey your information clearly and concisely.  More than ever, how you communicate, especially with e-mail, is a true reflection of your professional image.

As might be appropriate for a business book, you’ve researched carefully who might buy Think Twice. How important is it for authors to do this kind of market research?

It’s all about the target market.  After working for a target-market focused company, I understand the importance of creating a unique product that meets the needs of a large, yet clearly defined audience.  Publishing is a business — it’s not a community service.  Authors need to convince publishers of their book’s market potential.   Certainly, no one would open a restaurant without considering who the patrons would be or ask for venture capital dollars for a start-up without extensive market research.

So what do you think needs to happen to improve the book business? Are the best books making it before audiences?

With half of Americans being “functionally illiterate,” it’s not surprising that many turn to television, movies, and gaming.  Moreover, the entertainment industry is continuously in competition for mindshare—that includes books. The only way the book business will improve is when we focus less on visual and more on textual entertainment.  When we improve literacy, more people will read, and ultimately, more books will be sold.

Great books are published everyday; however, I’ve also read that some of the best books are never published.  Again, it can be a daunting experience to get a book published — I certainly see why many authors become discouraged.

Are you surprised to be on Media Predict? We doubt six months ago you were planning to be a heavy-weight on “a fantasy-money prediction market for media content.” What made you decide to get on board?

Let me preface this answer with the following statement: I’m using the word “never” here!  I never would have believed six months ago that I would be part of this fun, exciting, and unique contest.  In May, I was conducting, what appeared to be, my endless search for an agent on the web and came across an article about Media Predict on Publishers Marketplace.  Within days, I forwarded by manuscript with the thought, “If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.”