Thursday
Jul272006
Getting Published
Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 09:34PM
I've been having some fun and great conversations recently in The Mom Network & Message Boards at ClubMom.com. Hanging out in The Writer's Corner, somebody asked about the experience of publishing a book with a traditional publisher. This is one of the most common questions people ask me, in any forum, online and offline, so I'll post the story here as well:
My co-author and I went on an overnight retreat and talked out our book concept. We brainstormed and then refined the concept over a period of weeks. I read several books on "How to Write a Book Proposal" and ultimately followed the recipe to write the proposal, which ended up being about 50 pages, including the sample chapters.
(With nonfiction, you don't have to write the whole thing -- sell on proposal, with sample chapters! With fiction, you have to have a complete manuscript.)
You start with a Query - a one-page letter which briefly summarizes your concept. You send that to at least 30 agents or publishers and ask if they would like to see your book proposal. We attached postage-paid response postcards with checkboxes: YES, NO, COMMENTS. (Expect a lot of no's -- that's okay.)
With The Rebel Housewife Rules, we sent the queries directly to publishers. We went through the Writer's Market book (at the library) for publishers who were interested in our subject (nonfiction/women's humor). We also looked at all the books that were similar to what we had in mind at the bookstore and sent queries to those publishers. (That led to our ultimate success with Conari Press -- it just so happens the similar book was Hell's Belles, appropriately enough!)
It's also extremely helpful, when you have a short list of publishers (or agents), to visit the websites. Usually, publishers will have their own proposal guidelines or submission requirements available on their website, and you can tailor (tweak) your proposal to their needs and interests.
We had several publishers interested in the book proposal (which is basically a business plan for your book), and had a wonderful experience with our mid-sized publisher. The process from purchase to publication would be a whole 'nother chapter, and then promotion is an even bigger topic.
One thing I learned about promotion: It's all you, Baby! It doesn't matter if you are self-published or published by a publisher (even a large NY publisher for most authors): The success of your book will be based on your efforts, and that is probably even more difficult than writing the book in the first place.
More on that another time...
My co-author and I went on an overnight retreat and talked out our book concept. We brainstormed and then refined the concept over a period of weeks. I read several books on "How to Write a Book Proposal" and ultimately followed the recipe to write the proposal, which ended up being about 50 pages, including the sample chapters.
(With nonfiction, you don't have to write the whole thing -- sell on proposal, with sample chapters! With fiction, you have to have a complete manuscript.)
You start with a Query - a one-page letter which briefly summarizes your concept. You send that to at least 30 agents or publishers and ask if they would like to see your book proposal. We attached postage-paid response postcards with checkboxes: YES, NO, COMMENTS. (Expect a lot of no's -- that's okay.)
With The Rebel Housewife Rules, we sent the queries directly to publishers. We went through the Writer's Market book (at the library) for publishers who were interested in our subject (nonfiction/women's humor). We also looked at all the books that were similar to what we had in mind at the bookstore and sent queries to those publishers. (That led to our ultimate success with Conari Press -- it just so happens the similar book was Hell's Belles, appropriately enough!)
It's also extremely helpful, when you have a short list of publishers (or agents), to visit the websites. Usually, publishers will have their own proposal guidelines or submission requirements available on their website, and you can tailor (tweak) your proposal to their needs and interests.
We had several publishers interested in the book proposal (which is basically a business plan for your book), and had a wonderful experience with our mid-sized publisher. The process from purchase to publication would be a whole 'nother chapter, and then promotion is an even bigger topic.
One thing I learned about promotion: It's all you, Baby! It doesn't matter if you are self-published or published by a publisher (even a large NY publisher for most authors): The success of your book will be based on your efforts, and that is probably even more difficult than writing the book in the first place.
More on that another time...
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