It happens fairly often. I meet disgruntled, disillusioned, almost bankrupt authors who admit to making most of the mistakes listed below. They might have wonderful books in hands, but little understanding of the publishing industry and even less marketing savvy. They learn too late that the time to ask questions and study options is BEFORE you begin to make publishing decisions.
First-time authors are eager to see their books in print. I know this. I’ve been there and I’ve made mistakes. As authors, we work long and hard on our projects. The last thing we want to deal with after finishing a manuscript is the learning curve. Rather than spend weeks, months or years searching for a publishing opportunity, we’d rather sign with the first “publisher” who extends a friendly hand.
I’m on a mission, folks—a mission to help hopeful authors become more well educated and informed about this industry so they will make more appropriate choices on behalf of their publishing projects.
Following are 5 mistakes that many new authors make—mistakes that can cost you large sums of money and dramatically diminish your opportunity for publishing success.
1: Inexperienced authors write a book as the first step. Why is this considered a mistake? If you aspire to have your book published and widely distributed, this may be the wrong approach. Whether you’re writing a how-to book, biography, self-help, romance novel, children’s story, mystery, memoir or dictionary, write a book proposal first.
In the process of writing a book proposal, you will:
• Learn if you have a viable book at all.
• Discover whether there is a market for this book.
• Determine your target audience.
• Ascertain the best way to promote your book.
• Be prepared to establish your platform.
Write a book proposal as a first step and you’re more apt to write the right book for the right audience. How better to snag a traditional royalty publisher than with a promising project?
2: Eager new authors often go with the first publishing opportunity they stumble across. You don’t make other business decisions this quickly. You research the possibilities and study your options. Many authors forget that publishing is a business. We get so attached to our projects and so eager to see our books in print that we act emotionally rather than logically.
Learn the difference between a traditional royalty publisher and a pay-to-publish service. You’ll find hundreds of traditional royalty publishers listed in Writer’s Market (available in the reference section of your library or for sale for about $30 in most bookstores. A new edition comes out each September).
Visit bookstores in search of books like yours. Find out who published these books and contact those publishers.
As an author, you have many options. Research them, understand them and scrutinize them in order to choose the one that is right for your project.
3: New authors believe that they don’t have a chance with a traditional royalty publisher. This is simply not true. If you have a viable project, you arm yourself with knowledge and you approach the publisher in a professional manner, you have a definite chance of landing a traditional royalty publisher.
Find publishers who produce books like yours. Study their Submission Guidelines. Follow these guidelines in approaching them with your project. If they request a query letter first, do NOT send your complete manuscript. If you don’t understand what goes into a query letter, study books and articles about writing a query letter. Hire someone to help you get it right.
There are hundreds of small to medium-sized publishers eager for good, marketable books. For example, everyone knows that poetry books are a hard sell. Yet, Writer’s Market lists over 40 traditional royalty publishers who publish books of poetry. There are at least 125 publishers of mysteries and about the same number who produce historical novels. There are over 200 traditional royalty publishers that publish biographies and more than 175 who produce children’s books. Encouraging, isn’t it?
4: Many authors don’t understand publishing terms. Authors will say to me, “I’m self-publishing with ABC Publishing Company.” What they are actually doing is going with a pay-to-publish company. What are your primary publishing options?
Royalty Publisher
A traditional royalty publisher puts up the money for the production of your book and pays you royalties on books sold. These publishers are generally very selective in the books they publish
Self-publishing
Self-publishing means that you establish a publishing company (get a fictitious business name, purchase your own block of ISBNs, etc.). You get your book ready for publication, you hire a printing company, you are responsible for distribution and shipping and you reap all of the profits.
Pay-to-Publish Company
You pay the company to produce your book. Most of these companies will accept any manuscript—they are not generally discriminating. They each enter the publishing arena with very different publishing contracts. It pays to do plenty of research so you know exactly what you’re signing.
5: Newby authors don’t generally solicit advice from professionals until it is too late. Do NOT sign a contract with any publisher or purveyor of publishing services without hiring a literary or intellectual properties attorney. This should go without saying, yet thousands of authors each year bypass this important step.
I also recommend that inexperienced authors talk to other authors who have used the services they are considering. Contact organizations such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and Small Publishers of North America (SPAN). Ask questions.
Further, you should read books such as the one I wrote especially for you—Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. It’s available at Amazon.com and other online and downtown bookstores.
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com
Tomorrow, we will explore another 5 publishing mistakes and how to avoid them.