Writing and Publishing News

What will happen if major bookstores follow the path of so many independent bookstores and crash? (It’s happening as we speak!) What will be the lure and the perks of landing a traditional royalty publisher then? If books are no longer selling in large numbers through community bookstores, then how will they be sold?

Are publishers gearing up for this possibility? Do they see that the future of bookselling could take a very different form? Can they see that this is already happening? The future is beginning to take shape.

Will publishers go down? Those who have relied solely on bookstore sales certainly will. Those who have not been exploring new ways to promote and present books may not survive.

What could save them? Perhaps the lowly author.

Many publishers in recent years have required marketing plans from their authors. They want to know about your strong platform related to the theme/genre of your book. They need information about your skills, abilities and willingness to get out and promote your own books. Publishers have learned a lot from their more proactive authors. They know which authors will make them some money—and it’s not necessarily those with the most charming books. They also know more about what it takes to promote books because they’ve been watching their successful authors.

More and more publishers may also go out in search of authors who are working successful promotional plans and selling numbers of books on their own.

Publishers have expected authors to think outside the box for years. Now it’s the publishers’ turn. If their main source for bookselling freezes up, they will be forced either out of business or to become more creative.

With this in mind, folks, I advise you to choose your publisher carefully in these rapidly changing times. Consider this:

• If the publisher doesn’t require authors to come in with a strong business plan and a well-developed platform, maybe you should look for another publisher. He may not be realistic in his view of where publishing is going.

• If he doesn’t seem to have some creative marketing tactics up his sleeve, you should probably shy away from this publisher.

And, as an author, it is even more important that you take the steps we’ve been suggesting for several years.

• Keep up with publishing industry trends.
• Produce a viable product that is needed/desired.
• Establish a strong platform and keep building on it.
• Develop your marketing skills.
• Think and act outside the box.
• Become and remain proactive on behalf of your book.

This is a good time to familiarize yourself with the publishing industry. An excellent way to do that is by reading my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Then keep up with trends through SPAWNews (FREE) and the SPAWN Market Update. Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network at http://www.spawn.org

Order the book from me and get a free book of your choice. Email me for your choices: PLFry620@yahoo.com

I got word yesterday that more major bookstores are closing and several others are on the verge. Maybe you’re losing bookstores in your area. First it was the mom and pop stores that we loved, but didn’t support well enough. And now the big ones are going under. We’re losing those great purveyors of books as well as some of the most pleasant hang-out spots in our communities.

Now if you think this isn’t going to affect you because you never buy books in bookstores, anyway, think again. If you’re an author or hope to be, this could seriously affect your chances at getting published. Why? Because it isn’t just the bookstores in your area that are being affected. The closing of bookstores is becoming a national epidemic. Unless Borders can negotiate a new deal with publishers, they could be doomed. They’re trying, as we speak, to arrange a different payment plan. Some publishers are refusing to ship anymore books to them. It’s getting messy.

So what happens if the bookstores keep losing ground and eventually crash? Publishers who have not looked beyond the bookstore for sales over all of these years, and who do not want to or don’t know how to change their approach to bookselling, will go under. And those who are willing to adjust with the times and the circumstances, will put additional burdens on their authors.

Times are changing at a rapid rate. With bookstores closing by the dozens, forward thinking publishers are scrambling to discover new methods of promoting books.

Publishers will expect more from authors and their publishing agreements may reflect a partnership as opposed to the traditional publisher-author contract. Even fiction publishers will rely more on their authors now that their main outlets for sales is on shaky ground. Thus, more publishers will request serious marketing plans for fiction as well as for nonfiction.

Some publishers will become more web savvy. They will have to do what they’ve been expecting their authors to do—become fully enmeshed in promotion via the web. Publishers might start hiring publicists for all of their authors, offer instruction on book promotion and come up with other ideas for supporting the promotional efforts of their authors.

Can’t you see that it will become even more important to publishers that their authors are marketing savvy?

With this in mind, I advise hopeful (and even seasoned) authors everywhere to start now honing their promotional skills and building on their platforms.

You may want to take my 6-week online, on-demand book promotion course. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

Check out my websites: http://www.matilijapress.com (for a showcase of my books, informative articles and oodles of resources.)
http://www.patriciafry.com (for a FREE booklet and to learn more about my services.)

Are you seeking a publisher for your manuscript? Thousands of people are. That isn’t comforting to hear, is it? It’s true—publishing is a mighty popular pastime these days. In 2009, there were over a million books produced. Sure, over 700,000 of them were self-published and produced through pay-to-publish companies. But nearly 290,000 were published the traditional way.

Hopeful authors come into the world of publishing with varying perspectives and attitudes. While some of you will accept nothing less than publication with a major publisher, others are convinced that they could not get even a toe in the door of a big publishing house. Then there are many authors in between—those who choose to become independent publishers, those who plan to seek out a niche publisher, those who will head directly toward the pay-to-publish company, etc.

Most new authors wait to finish their books before researching publishers. I advise starting that process before you write the book. Why? It’s wise to know your options and the possibilities for your particular project before you complete it. If you want to publish with one of the big guys, you may need to include certain aspects to your story to make it more appealing to them. Word count might be a serious issue for the publisher. And if you know this ahead of time, you can write to those specs. You may see an opportunity with a niche publisher that has specific requirements which you wouldn’t have adhered to if you has written the book first.

Here are a couple of scenarios to illustrate:

1: Sam starts looking around for a publisher after simply outlining his business book. He hopes to land a particular publisher who distributes to his audience. He plans to write a reference book for accountants. During his research, however, he discovers that this publisher is more open to workbooks for this audience. Further research and a chat with the publisher prompts him to shift gears and he ultimately writes a more publishable book. Once he gets his foot in the door with this publisher, he might be able to sell him that original reference book and many others along the same line.

2: Susan has a story in mind and she hopes to land a major publisher. After researching them, she learns that they have fairly strict word count limitations—she didn’t know that. Some of them also seem to have offshoots that are publishing in the ever-popular young adult arena. She decides to read several young adult novels and consider gearing her story in that direction.

3: Sarah wants to write her memoir. She’d love to have it accepted by an impressive publisher. But she wants to write it to suit herself—without word count or any other restrictions. While conducting research, she now realizes that memoirs by unknown authors are a hard sell to publishers as well as to the public. But she wants to bring out this book, anyway. So she goes to work on it knowing that she has complete control because she plans to go the pay-to-publish route.

I’ve pointed out before, the importance of keeping your audience and your publisher in mind as you write so that you end up with a book that is likely to be published and read.

If you are thinking about writing a book or you have already started the writing, don’t wait to check out publishers. Start now doing the necessary research. Continue the writing with a few publishers in mind. Also, write a book proposal so you are clear as to your audience and you are writing the right book for the right audience.

It’s January 2011—a new year. Perhaps you’ve set new goals. Now would be the right time—a perfect time—to start studying the publishing industry, understanding more about your publishing options and learning much more about your responsibilities as a publisher author. If you are writing a book, you need to know what is involved in navigating the publishing industry, how to get your book into bookstores, how to do self-editing, what to look for when hiring an editor, what distribution is all about, how to get book reviews—lots of them, how to write a book proposal and so much more. This is a perfect time for you to purchase the book that some consider their “bible.” The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. $19.95 at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

This month only, I will throw in a copy of any one of my other writing/publishing/book promotion books or ebooks of your choice with your book order.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

I used my blogging time slot to write a guest blog this morning. I’ll give you the link when it is posted. It’s on a subject I think many of you are interested in—what are the chances of and how do you manage to get your self-published book published traditionally? Stay tuned.

Yesterday I located a computer file I was unable to find. I want to share some tricks that might help you do the same in the future. I was desperately looking for my most recent version of the book I am currently revising for the publisher. I flat could not find it. I knew it was in my computer, but where—under what name? So I settled on a file from the original edition of the book and I was meticulously comparing it to the most current edition of the print book and making necessary changes. What a process!

I got to thinking about it and realized that I may have the file I wanted in an email as I had sent it to my page layout person as a Word document. Before I could check, I discussed my dilemma with him and he said, “I have your original document on my computer. I always save the original separate from the PDF file I create.” He found it, told me the file name and, of course, there it was in my computer. Lucky break!

Sometimes as I’m working on a client’s book, I will attach a copy of the document to an email to another address here in the house. That way, if my computer crashes and I lose everything (even though I do have a backup hard drive), I can retrieve the manuscript without having lost all of my edits.

Hey, how do you write “website,” “Website,” “Web site?” I’ve adopted “website.” But as I was conducting research for my revision, I checked the 16th (latest) edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (used by most authors) and see that they recommend “website.”

I hope that all of you who follow this blog or stop in periodically are looking forward to a super successful and fulfilling year as a freelance writer or author. What are your publishing plans for 2011? Finishing a book, landing a publisher, building your freelance career, selling 5,000 copies of your book??? Let me know. Also tell me what types of information and resources you need in order to reach your goals and I’ll see what I can do to bring it to you.

Make it a happy and successful New Year all year.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

I’ve been spending a lot of time this week researching publishers’ submission guidelines for the revision of my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Things change fairly rapidly in this field and it has been just three years since my last such quest for information.

For the revision, I want to know the percentage of publishers who are accepting email submissions, the number who want to receive a book proposal, etc. I can tell you that most still prefer to receive submissions via regular mail, but larger numbers are okay with email submissions now than in 2007. And more publishers seem to be putting stronger restrictions and requests in their guidelines. For example, some are adamant that you have a strong platform in your genre/topic before contacting them with a project in mind. It seems that more publishers specify the importance of author participation in promoting their own books.

Anyone who takes the time to read publishers’ submission guidelines should have no doubts about what the publisher wants. And I can’t stress enough, the importance of doing so.

I get the impression from some of the authors who contact me that they study the guidelines of a few publishers and assume that these apply to all publishers. They couldn’t be more wrong! While, certainly, you’ll find similarities in some guidelines—pretty much all publishers want to see a professional, fully edited presentation, for example—there are also aspects of submission guidelines that vary considerably.

One publisher might want to see a query letter first. Others request the complete manuscript. And many, today, want to see a book proposal and they may require different types of information in that proposal.

If you want to land a traditional publisher, your first step should be to choose the right one. In fact many publishers today practically beg eager authors to check their line of books to make sure that theirs fits in. And it does you no good to overstep the boundaries.

For example, if the publisher’s catalog features only books for serious train and aviation enthusiasts and you don’t see evidence that they have ever published a children’s book on trains, do NOT assume that they will consider yours. If the publisher has been producing science fiction and fantasy young adult novels for eons, why would you ask them to publish your adult romance or your book on how to write young adult fantasies?

And your second step toward successfully landing a traditional publisher is to adhere to his or her submission guidelines. If they want to see a proposal including a brief synopsis, a market analysis involving four similar books, your platform and your marketing ideas sent via the post office along with a self-addressed-stamped envelope, then that’s exactly what you must send them.

You still might be rejected, but it won’t be because you sent the wrong manuscript to the wrong publisher or because you didn’t follow the submission guidelines. In fact, you’ll have a better chance of landing a publishing contract than those who do not take the time to study and follow each individual publisher’s requirements. There are hundreds of publishers in many categories. There were around 1,000 publishers listed in the 2010 Writer’s Market.

For more about this subject and many others, read my article archives, check out my list of resources and look at my display of books for authors: http://www.matilijapress.com

Newsflash: My most popular book during these past few months has been How to Write a Successful Book Proposal in 8 Days or Less. Amazon has ordered copies of that book almost every week since since July.

To learn about my services, visit: http://www.patriciafry.com

To ask me a question related to your writing project email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com.