Post by torainfor on Mar 28, 2009 21:11:39 GMT -5
I went to the above writers' conference today. Beverly Lewis (Christian Amish stories) was the keynote speaker, so I skipped that, but the first session was on publishing
They had a rep from a small publishing house, a rep from WaterBrook (owned by Multnomah, owned by Random House), and a gal who works with About Books Inc. ("which offers professional book consulting and production services to authors and small publishers"). Here's what I got out of it:
- New authors
-- It's incredibly hard to break into a major publishing house as a new author.
-- If you're a first-time author going to a major house, be prepared to accept changes. They will change your work considerably to appeal to a larger demographic.
- Agents
-- Go to writers' conferences to meet agents.
-- Having an agent shows you’re serious about writing as a career.
-- You can probably get through to a small house without an agent. You will never get through to a big house without one. Agents are key because they will have all the genre and market information researched so the publisher doesn't have to do it.
-- Publishers also like agents because they are a filter for the truly awful.
- Selling your book to a publisher
-- Know your market: How is your book like other successful works? How is it different?
-- Know your audience. Know your genre. Read your genre.
-- Know the trends, but don't necessarily follow them. It takes 12-18 months to get a book published, so by the time you write it and get it out, the trend could be over. Which means, yes, don't do vampires.
-- Never claim that your book is truly unique. Over 400,000 books are published a year. There are no unique books.
- Marketing
-- No one--not small houses, not big houses--has money for marketing. The author will be expected to sell their own book. They said you should be spending 50% of your time writing and 50% marketing.
-- The most successful authors are those that take control of their marketing.
-- Even big publishing houses will start with the core group you've already established, whether that be geographic, genre, political, etc.
-- Email lists with updates on published books, book excerpts, speaking dates. (Must, by law, have an "unsubscribe" option.)
-- Facebook, Twitter, Forums, MySpace, blog. All of which are aimed to send people to your...
-- Website--reserve the domain name of your pen name and your novel name.
-- Speaking engagements. Go to schools if you're writing for kids. Believe in your book and talk about it. But the publisher still won't pay for it.
-- Do on-line promoting before you try to sell your story. Publishers will like if you already have a core in place.
- Other
-- Contracts aren’t usually forever, but they could be.
-- Take your contract to a lawyer. Even if you're having it printed yourself, the contract could be worded to give the printer rights to your work.
-- Non-fiction authors need to be experts in their field. Fiction writing requires a lifestyle of writing, craft, marketing.
-- Self publishing isn’t completely awful. If you sell 5000 copies, you could get attention. If you sell 20,000, you will get attention.
They had a rep from a small publishing house, a rep from WaterBrook (owned by Multnomah, owned by Random House), and a gal who works with About Books Inc. ("which offers professional book consulting and production services to authors and small publishers"). Here's what I got out of it:
- New authors
-- It's incredibly hard to break into a major publishing house as a new author.
-- If you're a first-time author going to a major house, be prepared to accept changes. They will change your work considerably to appeal to a larger demographic.
- Agents
-- Go to writers' conferences to meet agents.
-- Having an agent shows you’re serious about writing as a career.
-- You can probably get through to a small house without an agent. You will never get through to a big house without one. Agents are key because they will have all the genre and market information researched so the publisher doesn't have to do it.
-- Publishers also like agents because they are a filter for the truly awful.
- Selling your book to a publisher
-- Know your market: How is your book like other successful works? How is it different?
-- Know your audience. Know your genre. Read your genre.
-- Know the trends, but don't necessarily follow them. It takes 12-18 months to get a book published, so by the time you write it and get it out, the trend could be over. Which means, yes, don't do vampires.
-- Never claim that your book is truly unique. Over 400,000 books are published a year. There are no unique books.
- Marketing
-- No one--not small houses, not big houses--has money for marketing. The author will be expected to sell their own book. They said you should be spending 50% of your time writing and 50% marketing.
-- The most successful authors are those that take control of their marketing.
-- Even big publishing houses will start with the core group you've already established, whether that be geographic, genre, political, etc.
-- Email lists with updates on published books, book excerpts, speaking dates. (Must, by law, have an "unsubscribe" option.)
-- Facebook, Twitter, Forums, MySpace, blog. All of which are aimed to send people to your...
-- Website--reserve the domain name of your pen name and your novel name.
-- Speaking engagements. Go to schools if you're writing for kids. Believe in your book and talk about it. But the publisher still won't pay for it.
-- Do on-line promoting before you try to sell your story. Publishers will like if you already have a core in place.
- Other
-- Contracts aren’t usually forever, but they could be.
-- Take your contract to a lawyer. Even if you're having it printed yourself, the contract could be worded to give the printer rights to your work.
-- Non-fiction authors need to be experts in their field. Fiction writing requires a lifestyle of writing, craft, marketing.
-- Self publishing isn’t completely awful. If you sell 5000 copies, you could get attention. If you sell 20,000, you will get attention.
