I’m in the process of writing a book proposal. As you may know, I’m the author of a book called How to Write a Successful Book Proposal in 8 Days or Less. I based this book on my 8-week article-writing course. How do you write a book proposal in 8 days when it is designed to take 8 weeks? You do the lessons daily instead of weekly!
I have been working on my book proposal for a few days and should complete it today. Yeah! See you truly can write a book proposal in 8 days or less.
The book is, Over 100 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. You may be familiar with the book I produced in 2000, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. I’m revising that book. And I’ve decided to seek a traditional publisher so the book will receive greater exposure and added potential for sales. So far, I have had one rejection letter.
My pitch for this book—what makes it unique—is that it is not a huge, intimidating tome. It is brief, compact, succinct, well-organized yet fully packed with ideas, resources and anecdotes. The response to my query letter reminded me that publishers aren’t so interested in what the public wants as they are “how much money can I make.” I teach and preach that publishing is a business and that you must approach publishers with an excellent business idea that will make them some money. But still, there is a mindset within the publishing industry that isn’t easy for an author (even an author/publisher like me) to grasp.
The first publisher to respond wrote a very nice note of explanation as to why they were not interested in publishing my book. They don’t want it for the very reason I thought they would! Because it is small and non-intimidating. They want books that they can price at around the $19.95 mark. They want those mega-books that intimidate authors. Also, this publisher said that they don’t sell many books on book promotion, anyway.
I guess this sort of follows my observation about many of the authors who are just coming into the publishing fold. They want to do things their way and they don’t want to be distracted or side-tracked by the facts of the matter. In other words, they aren’t studying what others write about book promotion. They don’t want to know how to promote their books. They have some ideas about getting exposure for their books—ideas that fit within their comfort zone—and they aren’t interested in complicating their world by learning about book promotion.
Hmmm. It’s looking more and more as if I will be publishing this book through my own publishing company, Matilija Press. I will complete my book proposal and send it out to the carefully researched publishers on my list. I’ll wait to hear back from them and then I’ll make my decision. I know that the first edition of this book is popular with authors everywhere I go. It is the one Amazon orders the most—often in bulk. It sells best at my website. And more people purchase this little 72-page book than any of my more substantial publishing-related books.
Maybe this publisher is dead wrong. Maybe authors would purchase more books on book promotion if they could find books like mine—books that are jam-packed with ideas, resources and anecdotes, but that are not huge and overwhelming.
We all have the opportunity to learn within this changing publishing industry daily. And I just learned that just because a publisher won’t accept your project doesn’t necessarily mean it is not worth publishing.
Catscapades
In the meantime, orders are filtering in for my new print version of Catscapades, True Cat Tales. Most people are purchasing multiple copies. It will make an absolutely marvelous gift. Think Easter! And Mother’s Day! I’ve got many of the birthdays on my list covered for the next year, as well.
I met two cat ladies over the weekend. One has seven cats and the other has five. They shared stories with me that may appear in the sequel to Catscapades, True Cat Tales in a few years. I’ve been visiting cat blogs and websites and meeting some of the people within the cat community. Several of them want to review the book when it arrives from the printer. Yeah!
Order your copy before March 15, 2010 and I’ll pay the shipping. I’ll also tuck in a free gift—something you can use every day for years! http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html
New Article-Writing course starts today. It’s not too late to sign up. $125 for 6-weeks of lectures, assignments and my personal attention to your project.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm