I have been pondering my career and the parts I love and the parts I could live without. As I have pondered these past years I have come to realize that I truly enjoy calling the author at the beginning of a campaign and discussing their book and their own life with them. I love figuring out what is unique about each person and what topics might catch the attention of media and reviewers. I love planning out when each media group should be called and exactly who in each media group should be called. I love developing the hooks and topics of discussion. I love educating authors on the literary industry. I love teaching them how to talk to media and the basics of an interview like -don't chew gum, relax, smile when you are talking if you want to sound charming etc.
I'm just not so crazy about actually making the calls to set everything up.
I know there are people who absolutely love the telephone time. I know there are people who excel at that task. I'm not saying I can't get the job done. I'm just saying that it's not my favorite part. So after years of doing it all, I have decided to make a bold step. I am now offering author coaching services.
I will continue to send the authors who want someone to do everything for them to a full time publicity company (and I have a favorite of course). But those authors who want a more hands on approach or who can't afford $5,000/month for a regular publicist will now have a resource for education and inspiration about the crazy literary world they are involved in.
To see the details, go to www.premierauthorcoaching.com. I can't wait to talk to you about how you can promote your book!
Showing posts with label publicity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publicity. Show all posts
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Would you turn down the opportunity for a traditional publisher?
I am contracting with an author right now that is in essence doing just that. He was contacted by (yes you read that right -she sought him out) the former vice-president of Penguin Books about his novel. She has been trying to hook him up with a traditional publisher since last year and wants to publicize him after that.
He is tired of waiting and so he called me back (a year after we talked last) to represent him.
He decided that he wants a book in print so he's just going to publish the book himself through Book Surge (a subsidiary of Amazon.com) and sell thousands of copies and be picked up by a traditional publisher later. Here's the kicker: He's not making the book available to major distributors like Baker and Taylor and Ingram. If you've read the other posts you know that means bookstores cannot order his books. He plans on selling thousands of books through Amazon.com alone. He talked about nationally syndicated book review programs that he wants to be on. He has great plans for his book but all that resonated through my head was our conversation from a year ago when he said, "There's typos in the book but they don't matter!"
I think it's an understatement to say I was floored through our whole conversation as he revealed more and more of his plans.
Here are the main points in our conversation I felt he needed to know:
1. I can't make any guarantees about the media who might want to interview him because I haven't even seen a copyof his manuscript. (I have to check and see if he cleaned up all the typos he mentioned before.)
2. The big nationally syndicated shows he was talking about aren't going to look at him because he doesn't have a major publisher behind him. Your publisher matters when you want in with the big players in the literary industry.
3. The cover price matters. He said he chose his cover price of $15.00 but if there's only 100 pages we have a major problem!
4. He can't expect to do any bookstore signings since the bookstores can't purchase his book from the distributors.
The other topic I discussed is that I would never encourage an author to stop trying for a traditional publisher until he got his final no. He has not received a single rejection! He said his friend waited 2-3 years and was published by a small publisher that didn't rocket his friend to the top so he wasn't going to wait.
Wow. He wants to sell thousands of copies right off the bat without making them available to bookstores, getting a top of the line publisher or even possibly having a crystal clear manuscript. But he's hiring a publicist so that should make it all better!
Memo to authors:
Publicists can typically do what you can't but we're not demi-gods or miracle workers. Please give us something to work with!
I can already see the cloud of doom on the horizon making me the bad guy because his book didn't sell thousands of copies.
He is tired of waiting and so he called me back (a year after we talked last) to represent him.
He decided that he wants a book in print so he's just going to publish the book himself through Book Surge (a subsidiary of Amazon.com) and sell thousands of copies and be picked up by a traditional publisher later. Here's the kicker: He's not making the book available to major distributors like Baker and Taylor and Ingram. If you've read the other posts you know that means bookstores cannot order his books. He plans on selling thousands of books through Amazon.com alone. He talked about nationally syndicated book review programs that he wants to be on. He has great plans for his book but all that resonated through my head was our conversation from a year ago when he said, "There's typos in the book but they don't matter!"
I think it's an understatement to say I was floored through our whole conversation as he revealed more and more of his plans.
Here are the main points in our conversation I felt he needed to know:
1. I can't make any guarantees about the media who might want to interview him because I haven't even seen a copyof his manuscript. (I have to check and see if he cleaned up all the typos he mentioned before.)
2. The big nationally syndicated shows he was talking about aren't going to look at him because he doesn't have a major publisher behind him. Your publisher matters when you want in with the big players in the literary industry.
3. The cover price matters. He said he chose his cover price of $15.00 but if there's only 100 pages we have a major problem!
4. He can't expect to do any bookstore signings since the bookstores can't purchase his book from the distributors.
The other topic I discussed is that I would never encourage an author to stop trying for a traditional publisher until he got his final no. He has not received a single rejection! He said his friend waited 2-3 years and was published by a small publisher that didn't rocket his friend to the top so he wasn't going to wait.
Wow. He wants to sell thousands of copies right off the bat without making them available to bookstores, getting a top of the line publisher or even possibly having a crystal clear manuscript. But he's hiring a publicist so that should make it all better!
Memo to authors:
Publicists can typically do what you can't but we're not demi-gods or miracle workers. Please give us something to work with!
I can already see the cloud of doom on the horizon making me the bad guy because his book didn't sell thousands of copies.
What exactly do you do on a publicity campaign?
This question was posed to me today and the answer isn't cut and dry simple unfortunately. It depends on the topic and merits of the book.
For example, I am representing a retirement book for government employees soon. This is a non-fiction book written to inform government employees of their many retirement options and advertise a company's services at the same time.
The book is well written with no apparent typos, has a great cover and has a relevant topic. The author obviously isn't as interested in book signings as in lectures for people who are interested in his topic to garner new business contacts. He is also more interested in local media so he can reach potential clients.
For this client I will planning an event calendar around his area at local libraries and other free venues then send that calendar to the local teacher's unions, fire union, fraternal order of police and any other civil servants I can reach. I will also be contacting his local media around the events I line up and try for several interviews. So long as there aren't any devastating events such as the Virginia Tech shooting I should be able to garner interest in his local area. After I have covered his local area, I will spread out to the national level and make contacts.
A book I represented last year was a political thriller. The premise of the book was fascinating and was decently written. Unfortunately, that genre is extremely hard to write well because all of your facts have to be dead on to get a good review. This author was not dead on all his facts. He also was not returnable for book stores and if you have read my other posts, you know that this is the kiss of death for book signings at book stores. This author is also from a large metropolitan area so authors aren't big news.
I struggled with representing this author. None of the bookstores in his area would host him since he wasn't returnable. Not a single one would even host him on a consignment basis. I set him up to do signings at several local coffee shops but he went to one and stood up the rest. I tried for any and all local media and I did get him some articles and interview requests. The last interview request he turned down. I really wasn't too hard on him though because by this time he was getting reviews back that weren't bad but did point out a lot of storyline flaws. I really don't blame him for getting discouraged.
Another author I'm speaking with has a book that he churned out quickly -he admits this -and is a powerful message delivered poorly. I have told him flat out that I will not send it to my reviewers because I won't get positive reviews from them if they even post a review at all. This author's message is so powerful though that I am trying to figure out how to sell his message without really pushing the book angle hard. Wish me luck on that one. I really just want the author to rewrite but his publisher (not truly traditional but claims to be) REALLY doesn't like that idea.
Honestly, a media campaign cannot be planned until the book is in the hands of the publicist. What I do for an author depends on the topic, quality and region of the author. As I come across different problems in the campaign, I shift my tactics and try different ideas continually.
For example, I am representing a retirement book for government employees soon. This is a non-fiction book written to inform government employees of their many retirement options and advertise a company's services at the same time.
The book is well written with no apparent typos, has a great cover and has a relevant topic. The author obviously isn't as interested in book signings as in lectures for people who are interested in his topic to garner new business contacts. He is also more interested in local media so he can reach potential clients.
For this client I will planning an event calendar around his area at local libraries and other free venues then send that calendar to the local teacher's unions, fire union, fraternal order of police and any other civil servants I can reach. I will also be contacting his local media around the events I line up and try for several interviews. So long as there aren't any devastating events such as the Virginia Tech shooting I should be able to garner interest in his local area. After I have covered his local area, I will spread out to the national level and make contacts.
A book I represented last year was a political thriller. The premise of the book was fascinating and was decently written. Unfortunately, that genre is extremely hard to write well because all of your facts have to be dead on to get a good review. This author was not dead on all his facts. He also was not returnable for book stores and if you have read my other posts, you know that this is the kiss of death for book signings at book stores. This author is also from a large metropolitan area so authors aren't big news.
I struggled with representing this author. None of the bookstores in his area would host him since he wasn't returnable. Not a single one would even host him on a consignment basis. I set him up to do signings at several local coffee shops but he went to one and stood up the rest. I tried for any and all local media and I did get him some articles and interview requests. The last interview request he turned down. I really wasn't too hard on him though because by this time he was getting reviews back that weren't bad but did point out a lot of storyline flaws. I really don't blame him for getting discouraged.
Another author I'm speaking with has a book that he churned out quickly -he admits this -and is a powerful message delivered poorly. I have told him flat out that I will not send it to my reviewers because I won't get positive reviews from them if they even post a review at all. This author's message is so powerful though that I am trying to figure out how to sell his message without really pushing the book angle hard. Wish me luck on that one. I really just want the author to rewrite but his publisher (not truly traditional but claims to be) REALLY doesn't like that idea.
Honestly, a media campaign cannot be planned until the book is in the hands of the publicist. What I do for an author depends on the topic, quality and region of the author. As I come across different problems in the campaign, I shift my tactics and try different ideas continually.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Not all publicists are equal
Say you decide you want someone in your corner promoting your book for you. How do you pick a good publicist that will get the job done while not taking your first born as payment?
First: What are your goals? What is your budget? How much do you want to participate? Do you have a media focus (examp. radio more than newspapers)?
Get a good idea of what you want to accomplish before you ever approach a publicity company.
Before I go further, understand the difference between a publicist and an agent.
Publicist: Only gets free publicity (they do send out review copies you are responsible for providing)
Agent: Spends your money to get targeted responses.
A publicist will set up book events but will not cover the expense to rent a hall and and advertise hoping to recoup expenses at the door. A publicist will contact every media they can think of for a review or interview, but will not purchase an ad space to do so. A good publicist will sell their soul to get you results but an agent will sell yours for you instead. (OK, I'm actually kidding on that last one.) I'm not anti-agent but I think free is a GREAT thing.
When looking at publicists, look at the company's provided information but also do a web search and find forums and posts that talk about the company. If you find a large amount of complaints, walk away. If you don't find many posts that isn't necessarily a bad thing. People are more likely to tell a million people they didn't like a company than brag about one that got results.
What is the publicist going to do for you? Keep in mind they can't guarantee results but who are they going to target and why? If it isn't spelled out for you in the proposal, the publicity company isn't bound by law to do those things. The publicity contract should be tailored to your book. If it doesn't talk about the hooks specific to your book the company is intending to use, it's not specific enough. If it doesn't have a general time line spelled out, it's not specific enough.
A contract can get too specific. Avoid demanding an exact number of media contacts a publicist is going to contact for each media hook. Doing so burdens the publicist with counting contacts which takes up campaign hours. Also, this hampers your campaign because the publicist is inclined to meet the number in each hook and not contact a single media past the numbers set in the contract just so they are assured they will meet the minimum by the time the campaign is over. Also, media contacts change on a daily basis. When your proposal was written, there may have been only 132 media who are interested in the history of ear wax. By the time your campaign starts that number could have jumped to 165 or dropped to 5. Forcing your publicist into constraining themselves by numbers is simply frustrating when dealing in the dynamic world of media.
Some publicists run their companies by a set amount for each ad or interview they arrange for you. You simply choose how much publicity you want and POOF! The reviews and interviews appear! Be wary of these companies. Check the prices. Usually, they are purchasing ad space and you can purchase the ads yourself for the same amount and probably less.
You should always ask for references from a company but take them with a the knowledge you might be writing to or calling their sister/brother/mother/father/best friend. You can't always assume you are getting legit references. I strongly encourage the tactic I mentioned above and do a google search with the company name. If people are feeling scammed, they are going to say something about it.
How much is the company going to contact you? A good publicist stays in contact with the author regularly as in once a week at the minimum. I usually stay in contact with my authors daily so we're on the same page. My company represented a client who hired a publicity company before us. He didn't hear from them for a MONTH after his campaign started. He didn't know if they were doing any work on his campaign so he stopped paying them. He sure heard from them then!
He started a campaign with us shortly after the other company realized his checks weren't coming anymore. Within 2 weeks we had 3 events lined up, 4 review commitments and a radio interview in the works. His campaign was hampered by the fact that he was a POD author but he had a timely book with media worthy content. Bottom line: get a commitment from the company on how often you will hear from them.
Cost is a big factor in many publicity campaigns. Publicity companies that traditional publishers employ are typically in the 5 digit range. Since you don't have a big publisher's money behind you, this might not be the option you want to pursue. There are many companies that charge in the $5,000 per month range. The company I mentioned above is one of those. There are other companies like the one I work for that charge in the $2,000 per month range.
Why the great spread in price? I was about to give you a snide comment but I'll stay professional here. It's all about overhead. If the company is in a penthouse suite, they have to charge enough to pay for said suite. Also, if the president wants a Jaguar to impress the opposite sex, the authors are paying for that Jaguar.
If you're not a traditionally published author, those companies typically won't work for you period. The publicity companies in the $5,000 range charge as much as they do for the same reason though. It's all about overhead. If the company is in California, they have to charge more to live out there. If the company is based in rural Kentucky, the overhead is considerably less. Does a higher cost validate a publicity company's results? I don't think so but if an author really wants to pay for me to buy a nicer car, I'll sure take them up on that offer!
Good publicity companies will offer a couple different options for your involvement. The only two I would consider is all or nothing. A full campaign means you show up and smile where ever they send you. They do all the leg work, they get all the rejection, they send out all the review copies. Your responsibility is to make sure you are available for the interviews they set up for you (you do approve the dates before the dates are set) and show up to sign books. This is ideal for the busy person.
Maybe you don't have anything better to do and want to be really involved (and save money). Some companies let you purchase targeted media names and it is your job is to contact them, take all the rejection (it's inevitable), send out review copies, do all the follow up and set up all interviews. If you choose this option, you really can't go back to a full campaign. By the time you figure out you might be over your head, the leads are cold and no publicist wants to find out that a media contact already turned down a client but the author forgot to pass that along.
Do your research and ask lots of questions and you should be fine with whomever you choose. Above all, trust your instincts because it's your money.
First: What are your goals? What is your budget? How much do you want to participate? Do you have a media focus (examp. radio more than newspapers)?
Get a good idea of what you want to accomplish before you ever approach a publicity company.
Before I go further, understand the difference between a publicist and an agent.
Publicist: Only gets free publicity (they do send out review copies you are responsible for providing)
Agent: Spends your money to get targeted responses.
A publicist will set up book events but will not cover the expense to rent a hall and and advertise hoping to recoup expenses at the door. A publicist will contact every media they can think of for a review or interview, but will not purchase an ad space to do so. A good publicist will sell their soul to get you results but an agent will sell yours for you instead. (OK, I'm actually kidding on that last one.) I'm not anti-agent but I think free is a GREAT thing.
When looking at publicists, look at the company's provided information but also do a web search and find forums and posts that talk about the company. If you find a large amount of complaints, walk away. If you don't find many posts that isn't necessarily a bad thing. People are more likely to tell a million people they didn't like a company than brag about one that got results.
What is the publicist going to do for you? Keep in mind they can't guarantee results but who are they going to target and why? If it isn't spelled out for you in the proposal, the publicity company isn't bound by law to do those things. The publicity contract should be tailored to your book. If it doesn't talk about the hooks specific to your book the company is intending to use, it's not specific enough. If it doesn't have a general time line spelled out, it's not specific enough.
A contract can get too specific. Avoid demanding an exact number of media contacts a publicist is going to contact for each media hook. Doing so burdens the publicist with counting contacts which takes up campaign hours. Also, this hampers your campaign because the publicist is inclined to meet the number in each hook and not contact a single media past the numbers set in the contract just so they are assured they will meet the minimum by the time the campaign is over. Also, media contacts change on a daily basis. When your proposal was written, there may have been only 132 media who are interested in the history of ear wax. By the time your campaign starts that number could have jumped to 165 or dropped to 5. Forcing your publicist into constraining themselves by numbers is simply frustrating when dealing in the dynamic world of media.
Some publicists run their companies by a set amount for each ad or interview they arrange for you. You simply choose how much publicity you want and POOF! The reviews and interviews appear! Be wary of these companies. Check the prices. Usually, they are purchasing ad space and you can purchase the ads yourself for the same amount and probably less.
You should always ask for references from a company but take them with a the knowledge you might be writing to or calling their sister/brother/mother/father/best friend. You can't always assume you are getting legit references. I strongly encourage the tactic I mentioned above and do a google search with the company name. If people are feeling scammed, they are going to say something about it.
How much is the company going to contact you? A good publicist stays in contact with the author regularly as in once a week at the minimum. I usually stay in contact with my authors daily so we're on the same page. My company represented a client who hired a publicity company before us. He didn't hear from them for a MONTH after his campaign started. He didn't know if they were doing any work on his campaign so he stopped paying them. He sure heard from them then!
He started a campaign with us shortly after the other company realized his checks weren't coming anymore. Within 2 weeks we had 3 events lined up, 4 review commitments and a radio interview in the works. His campaign was hampered by the fact that he was a POD author but he had a timely book with media worthy content. Bottom line: get a commitment from the company on how often you will hear from them.
Cost is a big factor in many publicity campaigns. Publicity companies that traditional publishers employ are typically in the 5 digit range. Since you don't have a big publisher's money behind you, this might not be the option you want to pursue. There are many companies that charge in the $5,000 per month range. The company I mentioned above is one of those. There are other companies like the one I work for that charge in the $2,000 per month range.
Why the great spread in price? I was about to give you a snide comment but I'll stay professional here. It's all about overhead. If the company is in a penthouse suite, they have to charge enough to pay for said suite. Also, if the president wants a Jaguar to impress the opposite sex, the authors are paying for that Jaguar.
If you're not a traditionally published author, those companies typically won't work for you period. The publicity companies in the $5,000 range charge as much as they do for the same reason though. It's all about overhead. If the company is in California, they have to charge more to live out there. If the company is based in rural Kentucky, the overhead is considerably less. Does a higher cost validate a publicity company's results? I don't think so but if an author really wants to pay for me to buy a nicer car, I'll sure take them up on that offer!
Good publicity companies will offer a couple different options for your involvement. The only two I would consider is all or nothing. A full campaign means you show up and smile where ever they send you. They do all the leg work, they get all the rejection, they send out all the review copies. Your responsibility is to make sure you are available for the interviews they set up for you (you do approve the dates before the dates are set) and show up to sign books. This is ideal for the busy person.
Maybe you don't have anything better to do and want to be really involved (and save money). Some companies let you purchase targeted media names and it is your job is to contact them, take all the rejection (it's inevitable), send out review copies, do all the follow up and set up all interviews. If you choose this option, you really can't go back to a full campaign. By the time you figure out you might be over your head, the leads are cold and no publicist wants to find out that a media contact already turned down a client but the author forgot to pass that along.
Do your research and ask lots of questions and you should be fine with whomever you choose. Above all, trust your instincts because it's your money.
Self Promotion
Since I have never promoted myself, I do not consider myself an expert. I found a website that has general information that is dead on when it comes to publicity in general.
http://www.hodrw.com/selfpromomistakes.htm
Read through these even if you don't plan on doing your own promotion. You won't regret it!
http://www.hodrw.com/selfpromomistakes.htm
Read through these even if you don't plan on doing your own promotion. You won't regret it!
Not all publicity is equal
Imagine stepping onto the stage to sit with Oprah and discuss the topics you covered while in your book. She smiles as you are a pile of nerves trying not to look and sound like a fool on national television.
Now, wake up and realize that it will take on HECK of a book to make that happen. Oprah is inundated with so many show ideas that it truly takes something spectacular to catch their eye. You have to be revolutionary if you want to be on her show. The same goes for Regis and Kelly, Good Morning America and any other national television show.
Obviously, television is the ideal market to be on. There is a broader audience and people relate better to a face than a name. Non-fiction books have a much better chance of having a good match for television coverage. It is easier to find a show that deals with health and fitness than it is to find a show covering magic. That's just reality.
Television is also centered around the hot topics of the day. If your topic is yesterday's news, you're not going to find a television media contact that is willing to interview you.
What about radio? Radio can be a lot of fun because radio interviewers tend to be very easy going and polite. There are many who aren't but a good publicist will stay away from those interviewers. Radio stations differ in coverage areas and wattage but you can do a radio interview in your bathrobe at home in your spare time.
The only draw back I have found to radio is someone may be very interested while listening in the car but be distracted by the time they get to work so they forget about your book.
Newspapers: These are a good format for people to remember the information and have a reminder. Generally, your local press will cover the release of your book with a small blurb unless you are from a huge city. Cities like Los Angeles and its suburbs have an author in every other house. It's not news there. You can find smaller publications geared towards your neighborhood to contact so don't overlook those.
Magazines aren't printed as regularly as most newspapers and generally are more niche than newspapers but they are still worth looking into.
Syndicates are a resource that the average Joe or Jane isn't aware of. Syndicates gather their own stories and sell them to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. If you can get a syndicate to feature your book, you immediately have exposure to hundreds if not thousands of media outlets who can choose to print something about your publication. Does this guarantee coverage? No. It definitely ups your odds though.
A typical author doesn't have access to syndicate contact information mostly because they do not know where to look. This is a place where you need a publicist.
The world wide web is a beautiful place where anybody and everybody can make a website and sell or say almost anything they want. You can find several review sites from the huge with hundreds of reviewers to the small with a single person posting their opinions. Generally, they will all request a complimentary copy of your book and post a review after they have gotten around to writing it. Some websites will post your press release (if you have one) and cover art with out reading your book. This helps increase the presence of your publication and shouldn't be sneezed at since it is free.
Now, if you have read my past posts, you know that the goal of publicity is free exposure. In all of the above formats you can find venues where you can pay for advertising or time slots. The real goal is to get as much as possible for nothing though. A review will get more credibility than an ad any day.
Now, wake up and realize that it will take on HECK of a book to make that happen. Oprah is inundated with so many show ideas that it truly takes something spectacular to catch their eye. You have to be revolutionary if you want to be on her show. The same goes for Regis and Kelly, Good Morning America and any other national television show.
Obviously, television is the ideal market to be on. There is a broader audience and people relate better to a face than a name. Non-fiction books have a much better chance of having a good match for television coverage. It is easier to find a show that deals with health and fitness than it is to find a show covering magic. That's just reality.
Television is also centered around the hot topics of the day. If your topic is yesterday's news, you're not going to find a television media contact that is willing to interview you.
What about radio? Radio can be a lot of fun because radio interviewers tend to be very easy going and polite. There are many who aren't but a good publicist will stay away from those interviewers. Radio stations differ in coverage areas and wattage but you can do a radio interview in your bathrobe at home in your spare time.
The only draw back I have found to radio is someone may be very interested while listening in the car but be distracted by the time they get to work so they forget about your book.
Newspapers: These are a good format for people to remember the information and have a reminder. Generally, your local press will cover the release of your book with a small blurb unless you are from a huge city. Cities like Los Angeles and its suburbs have an author in every other house. It's not news there. You can find smaller publications geared towards your neighborhood to contact so don't overlook those.
Magazines aren't printed as regularly as most newspapers and generally are more niche than newspapers but they are still worth looking into.
Syndicates are a resource that the average Joe or Jane isn't aware of. Syndicates gather their own stories and sell them to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. If you can get a syndicate to feature your book, you immediately have exposure to hundreds if not thousands of media outlets who can choose to print something about your publication. Does this guarantee coverage? No. It definitely ups your odds though.
A typical author doesn't have access to syndicate contact information mostly because they do not know where to look. This is a place where you need a publicist.
The world wide web is a beautiful place where anybody and everybody can make a website and sell or say almost anything they want. You can find several review sites from the huge with hundreds of reviewers to the small with a single person posting their opinions. Generally, they will all request a complimentary copy of your book and post a review after they have gotten around to writing it. Some websites will post your press release (if you have one) and cover art with out reading your book. This helps increase the presence of your publication and shouldn't be sneezed at since it is free.
Now, if you have read my past posts, you know that the goal of publicity is free exposure. In all of the above formats you can find venues where you can pay for advertising or time slots. The real goal is to get as much as possible for nothing though. A review will get more credibility than an ad any day.
Small Publishing Houses
This is a gray area between a traditional publishing house and self-publishing. The best small publishing house to find is one in your genre. I know of a couple small publishing houses that only publish religious books. They are set up as large publishers where you pay no upfront fees, they have high editorial standards, they do as much publicity as reasonable within budget and they print runs of books.
Upfront fees:
If a publisher is asking for upfront fees they are either subsidy publishing or they are a vanity press. If you want to be a best seller, run away from vanity presses. You really want to find a smaller traditional publishing house if you want to make sales but short of a good one, a subsidy publisher might be OK if you ask them the hard questions and they have satisfactory responses.
High Editorial Standards:
This means they don't accept your book then tell you there are editorial problems later. Beware in-house editors of self-publishers, POD publishers and vanity press editors. They have motivation to let many typos and storyline problems slide just to keep moving authors through the printing process. Am I saying that all of those editors poor editors? No. I'm sure those companies find budding talent but they are hampered by the pressure their employers put on them to meet the bottom line.
The proper response should be something along the lines of, "You have a very interesting story idea. Unfortunately, there are many grammatical and storyline problems that need to be addressed before we can consider working with you." They may refer you to some editors and they may not. Their in-house editors should be busy with repeat authors working on another manuscript.
Think of it this way, how many typos do you find in the Harry Potter series? Until your manuscript is that clean, your book should not go to press. I said in another post, "Edit, Edit, Edit!" Don't take the company's word you have a clean script. Hand it around and make sure!
Publicity:
Now we are touching on my area of expertise. Publicity is FREE advertising in different media venues. This ranges from radio interviews to newspaper and magazine reviews or articles to online reviews to television appearances and book events.
If you found a genuine small publisher, they are going to send out press releases to different papers in your area as well as papers that have sections dealing with your topic. Then they FOLLOW UP! I can't tell you the number of times I have heard an author tell me that a publisher sent their press release to the New York Times Book Review and they are waiting for a call back. First of all, if you are a first time author, you have to write something earth shattering for the New York Times Book Review to take notice.
This is where a pristine manuscript makes a difference. If you possibly have a revolutionary new idea that catches the notice of a top reviewing article, they may excuse one typo. They may even be lenient with a second but if you have more than that, they are going to lose interest. Typos make you look like an ameature and you want to be a professional as possible.
Don't waste your time with a company who is going to waste your publicity time. If they ask you for a list of your friends and family to contact, they are wasting your time. You are perfectly capable of telling people you know about your book. The publisher/publicist needs to be spending their time contacting people you don't know. Smaller publishing houses don't have the huge budgets that large houses have so expecting them to fly you to Hawaii for a book signing is unreasonable. They are going to send posters, review copies, bookmarks and press releases.
Printing a run of books:
If you are dealing with an actual small publisher, they are going to print a small run of books because they think they can sell all those books. It saves them money to print that way and they can always print another run if they run out of books.
The major reason you want runs of books printed is because there is usually a lower cover price which means more people will buy your book. POD and vanity presses bump the cover price 2-3 times what competitive books are selling for. They do this because they expect fewer sales and they want to make the author think they're making a lot of money. A typical POD author makes about $1.00 a book. Publishers also need to make it worth their while so they take at least $10.00 of the cover price of the book. A traditionally published author is lucky to make $0.25 per book. It's worth their while because they will sell thousands if not hundreds of thousands of books.
Upfront fees:
If a publisher is asking for upfront fees they are either subsidy publishing or they are a vanity press. If you want to be a best seller, run away from vanity presses. You really want to find a smaller traditional publishing house if you want to make sales but short of a good one, a subsidy publisher might be OK if you ask them the hard questions and they have satisfactory responses.
High Editorial Standards:
This means they don't accept your book then tell you there are editorial problems later. Beware in-house editors of self-publishers, POD publishers and vanity press editors. They have motivation to let many typos and storyline problems slide just to keep moving authors through the printing process. Am I saying that all of those editors poor editors? No. I'm sure those companies find budding talent but they are hampered by the pressure their employers put on them to meet the bottom line.
The proper response should be something along the lines of, "You have a very interesting story idea. Unfortunately, there are many grammatical and storyline problems that need to be addressed before we can consider working with you." They may refer you to some editors and they may not. Their in-house editors should be busy with repeat authors working on another manuscript.
Think of it this way, how many typos do you find in the Harry Potter series? Until your manuscript is that clean, your book should not go to press. I said in another post, "Edit, Edit, Edit!" Don't take the company's word you have a clean script. Hand it around and make sure!
Publicity:
Now we are touching on my area of expertise. Publicity is FREE advertising in different media venues. This ranges from radio interviews to newspaper and magazine reviews or articles to online reviews to television appearances and book events.
If you found a genuine small publisher, they are going to send out press releases to different papers in your area as well as papers that have sections dealing with your topic. Then they FOLLOW UP! I can't tell you the number of times I have heard an author tell me that a publisher sent their press release to the New York Times Book Review and they are waiting for a call back. First of all, if you are a first time author, you have to write something earth shattering for the New York Times Book Review to take notice.
This is where a pristine manuscript makes a difference. If you possibly have a revolutionary new idea that catches the notice of a top reviewing article, they may excuse one typo. They may even be lenient with a second but if you have more than that, they are going to lose interest. Typos make you look like an ameature and you want to be a professional as possible.
Don't waste your time with a company who is going to waste your publicity time. If they ask you for a list of your friends and family to contact, they are wasting your time. You are perfectly capable of telling people you know about your book. The publisher/publicist needs to be spending their time contacting people you don't know. Smaller publishing houses don't have the huge budgets that large houses have so expecting them to fly you to Hawaii for a book signing is unreasonable. They are going to send posters, review copies, bookmarks and press releases.
Printing a run of books:
If you are dealing with an actual small publisher, they are going to print a small run of books because they think they can sell all those books. It saves them money to print that way and they can always print another run if they run out of books.
The major reason you want runs of books printed is because there is usually a lower cover price which means more people will buy your book. POD and vanity presses bump the cover price 2-3 times what competitive books are selling for. They do this because they expect fewer sales and they want to make the author think they're making a lot of money. A typical POD author makes about $1.00 a book. Publishers also need to make it worth their while so they take at least $10.00 of the cover price of the book. A traditionally published author is lucky to make $0.25 per book. It's worth their while because they will sell thousands if not hundreds of thousands of books.
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