Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category
Five Great Things That Don’t Sell a Lot of Books: #2 A Great Forward
Besides lining up a great group of endorsers, I also asked a very popular author and blogger to write the forward for my book. I reasoned that any kind of positive endorsement from him would lead to instant sales.
However, the more I talked with people about the forward, I realized that many hadn’t even noticed it. Once they read it, they found it a persuasive case for buying my book. However, I began to realize that forwards aren’t quite as powerful a force for book sales than I had imagined.
The forward certainly leant me a little more credibility and I’m very glad that I had it, but it wasn’t the earth-shattering force that I expected it to be.
While a great forward should be the goal of any author, we can make the mistake of trusting things such as endorsements or forwards to do a lot more than they are designed to do. I’m very grateful for my colleague’s kind words, but his forward could only do so much by way of actually selling books.
I didn’t realize that selling lots of books had more to do with my own abilities.
The rest of this series:
A Great Forward
Great reviews
Social Media
A Web Site
Two Thing That Do
A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.
A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform
Five Great Things That Don’t Sell Lots of Books: #1 Great Endorsements
I confess that when I worked on publishing my first book that I thought landing a few great endorsements would just about guarantee success. Whenever I read a positive nod from a writer I admire, I usually consider buying the book.
From what I can tell, I assembled a pretty good group of endorsers. They were all respected and published authors in their own rights, and they said very kind things about my book.
While I’m sure that some folks picked up my book based on their endorsements, an endorsement can only take readers so far. An endorsement may convince them to pick up your book and look it over, but a potential reader’s interest may well stop there.
I invested a lot of time into the endorsement process, which I don’t necessarily regret, but I think I put way too much trust into it. In addition, I probably didn’t work as hard on some other things that were much more important since I trusted that the endorsers would expand the appeal of my book.
Endorsements are great, but they aren’t the most important factor in selling books.
The rest of this series:
Great endorsements
A Great Forward
Great reviews
Social Media
A Web Site
Two Thing That Do
A well-written book that is targeted to a specific but wide audience.
A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform
Five Great Things That Don’t Sell Lots of Books… And Two Things That Do
I thought I’d done everything to give my book Coffeehouse Theology a chance to sell a lot of copies. I was very busy in the time leading up to the book’s release and afterwards with endorsements, reviews, blog tours, and social media buzz.
While there are a lot factors that go into a book’s sales from the marketing ability of a publisher to the state of the economy (which was at rock bottom at the time of my release), I’d like to process a few things in public about marketing my book and what I learned.
These are things that you the author can control. Results may vary depending on any number of factors, and the rules of publishing are generally made to be broken. However, there are some trends I have noticed.
The more I speak with other authors and industry professionals, the more I think I missed a few strategic opportunities to improve my book’s chances because I focused on developing some areas that were certainly important, but not quite as critical when it came to selling books. They may have helped sell some books, but they were not the most important factors when it came to selling LOTS of books.
I’ll spend this week and the next unpacking some of this a bit more, including how my publishing strategy has changed over the past year.
Here are the lists that I’ll dig into over the coming days:
Five Great Things That Don’t Sell Lots of Books
Trustworthy Endorsements
A Great Forward
Great Reviews
Social Media
A Web Site
Two Things That Sell Lots of Books
A well-written book that is targeted to the needs of a specific but wide audience.
A Trusted Name with an Extensive Platform (One note: the 5 things in the list above are part of a platform, but there is much more to a marketing platform than those 5 things)
The “Why You?” Question in Publishing: Your Education
Authors who are selling their work to publishers will need to convince an editor that they have the qualifications to publish. While work and personal experiences may prove valuable in selling a book to a publisher, an authors education may also help answer the question, “Why are you the person to write this book?”
Attending an MFA program in writing is one of the most discussed ways that you can improve your chances at publishing.
There is a lot of spirited debate online and offline about the merits of an MFA program. On one hand, critics say that an MFA is a terminal degree that may not help your writing as much as you’d expect if the majority of your critique comes from fellow writers. However, if your goal is to simply write more often, then an MFA is just what you need. In fact, one advocate of MFA programs shared that these programs may simply enable more writers to take themselves and their craft more seriously.
It’s also important to remember that every program is a little different. There are different levels of interaction with professors depending on the school and the type of program—such as a low-residency program that may provide more direct contact with a professor. A lot of questions may be answered by taking a course or two to see if it’s what you need.
In my own case, I attended a graduate school to study theology in order to gain more experience and knowledge in my field. While an MFA program may be helpful for nonfiction writers, there is a lot of value in immersing yourself into your particular field through graduate study.
There are published authors with and without degrees, so there isn’t one correct answer. Rather, you need to figure out what will help you become a better writer and what will give you the best chance of becoming published. The appropriate education will give you the confidence you need and hopefully additional sway with editors that you are the correct person to write your book.
In addition, there are some other ways you can accomplish both of these goals without an MFA program. That’s what we’ll discuss next.
The “Why You?” Question in Publishing: Your Experience
You’ll want to begin the publishing process by taking stock of your career and experience at this point. Is there anything about your current profession and resume that would make your proposal more attractive to a publisher?
For instance, a fiction writer who wants to tell the story of a policeman who served for years as an officer or state trooper will have an easy time convincing a publisher that he can write a convincing novel about such a character. That isn’t to say that you can’t write about something based on research, but writing about something where you have past experience will give you an extra credential to consider.
Nonfiction writers will need real-world experience and/or education for their own credentials. One former greeting card writer wrote a book called House of Cards about his time working for Hallmark, in Three Cups of Tea one man tells the story of his work building schools in Afghanistan, and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell has used his experience researching and writing for the New Yorker (confirm) to lay the groundwork for his books.
A great idea and a catchy title are just the beginning of publishing a book. Depending on your goals and your genre you’ll need to think about how your past work, volunteer, and writing experience have prepared you for publishing your book.
When you list out your experience and credentials you’ll want to be sure you have a list that raises eyebrows instead of causes a yawn. You may need to look into new volunteer experiences, a degree program, and even a new career. In the case of fiction writers such extremes may not be quite as necessary, but then again you need to think about the factors that will enable you to tell the kind of story you’re imagining.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about the role of education in answering the “Why you?” question in publishing.
Before You Publish: Prepare for Revision
Before Christmas break and my study guide promotion took over my life, I began a series of posts with ideas on what to do before you publish. I began with posts called Set Goals and Prepare for Rejection. I would like to continue that series this week with thoughts on how to prepare for revision:
After working on several book projects, chapters, short stories, proposals, and magazine articles I still hold my breath when an editor e-mails me with revision comments. I’ve received praise, challenges to rewrite my work significantly, and even a long note telling me my project simply didn’t work as written.
It’s never easy to read that your work needs significant revision, but revision is a big part of the writing life and the sooner writers prepare for it, the better. Here are a couple of thoughts on how you can mentally prepare for editors and the revisions they may request.
Scrutiny is Coming
When you publish anything for the public your reputation and that of the publisher will be on the line. Therefore, an editor is your best defense against either missing your readers, saying something offensive, or making some other embarrassing error. Editors aren’t out to chop up your ideas, but rather to help you communicate them effectively with your prospective audience.
This doesn’t mean that every editor will do that well, but by and large most editors will help you write better and connect with readers in ways that you couldn’t do on your own. There will come times that editors can’t move past their disagreements with your work or you don’t see eye to eye on how to communicate something of importance, but rest assured those instances are more exceptions than rules.
Ideas will be Altered
It is humbling to find out that your ideas aren’t recognized as brilliant and world-changing. I’ve learned it is very hard to pick the perfect way to communicate an idea with readers. In fact, effective communication through writing can be quite challenging and sometimes we become so attached to our ideas that we can’t understand why others would have a hard time grasping our presentation of them. Once again, editors are there to ensure your ideas are altered in ways that improve their effectiveness, even if us writers sometimes think they’re just fine as they are.
Titles will be Modified
Never buy a web site domain name based on the title of a book. It’s just a bad idea since every book passes through an extensive titling process with a committee of experts pitching ideas. While it’s important to come up with a strong title for your book, there will be no guarantee that it will make the final cut with the publisher. There are many authors who strongly dislike the titles chosen for their books, so count yourself blessed if you at least find your book’s final title remotely palatable!
Deletions
Words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters will be deleted from your manuscript. Just count on that happening. Perhaps the best skill I’ve learned over the years is how to delete gracefully. Sometimes it’s better to count your losses and delete a chapter rather than breaking your brain trying to make it work. If a sentence or paragraph is noted as unclear by an editor, just delete it and write a better one.
Extensive Edits will be Required
Sometimes you’ll write a generally good chapter that needs extensive edits to its organization and ideas. I usually like to rewrite the outline of such chapters and then begin with that barebones outline for my rewrites with a copy of the previous chapter handy. Rather than mushing my revisions together in the edited draft, I find it easier to make extensive edits with a somewhat fresh start. Sometimes I’ll paste in a few paragraphs that worked from the previous draft and I usually keep many of the same ideas, but once again the deletion principle applies. My motto is, “I’ve never written a sentence that I couldn’t delete.”
Previous Posts in This Series
Set Goals
Prepare for Rejection
How to Plan for a Blog to Become a Book
I used to think of a blog as a place to toss around thoughts, to sharpen ideas, and to establish my own voice and style. While I think those are true things, and I have certainly done all of them, there is another dimension to blogging that I feel I’ve neglected.
It’s no secret that many blogs have been converted to books, whether it’s the Post Secret blog or the now-famous Julie and Julia project. I know a lot of writers are afraid that their ideas could be stolen on web sites, and that’s something well worth considering, but for those us in this blogging thing up to our elbows, it’s time to dig a little deeper into the ways a blog could one day become a book:
Review Relevant Books
I need to focus on reading the most relevant books for my areas of interest and to that end I’m working on only reviewing books on my theology blog that relate directly to projects I’m working on or would be on my pleasure reading list. In fact, I’m calling my posts reflections on books rather than an in-depth review. I’ve spent too much time reviewing books on my theology blog that didn’t quite relate to what I need to be working on.
Invest Time in a Series of Blog Posts
For the ideas that may develop into a book or ebook in the future, I plan to take the time to map out the posts, plan them a bit, write a few outlines or drafts, and then get moving on the posts. Sometimes my ideas are too scattered, but if I want to turn those ideas into books one day, crafting some solid rough drafts in a series of blog posts may create enough material and momentum to carry the project forward.
Edit, Revise, and Consider Feedback
Of course my future book or ebook projects won’t move beyond the blog without taking the next step of editing and expanding my ideas. The one key advantage of blogging through some rough drafts of my ideas is the instant feedback readers have provided. I plan to continue gathering key information about my audience and the limitations of my knowledge or topic, helping to refocus or change directions if necessary down the line.
Before You Publish: Prepare for Rejection
Last week I talked about lining up some goals before publishing, but with lofty goals come low points and even failure. That’s just part of the writing life, and one that prospective writers will need to prepare themselves for if they’re going to take a crack at it.
By the Numbers
There are hundreds of thousands of books published each year by a variety of publishers in numerous formats. That means there are thousands, upon thousands more manuscripts and proposals fighting for those limited spots. In addition, there are only so many topics and story lines to choose from, so there is a good chance that someone may have submitted a proposal before yours that has already been accepted. The competition is such that you can expect some rejections based on the limited number of books printed each year.
By Specialization
Publishers have target audiences and particular topics in mind when they review books. Even if your book is well-written, you may not fit the exact needs of a publisher at that particular time. You may be rejected because you didn’t quite fit the right niche or land on an editor’s desk at the right time.
By Platform
Publishers today are looking for authors who are known quantities with an existing audience or readership that will willingly buy their book and spread the word virally. Authors with a neglected Facebook profile and a blog with three posts over the past year need to invest in these networks before pitching their books. A proposal without a platform has a particularly rough road ahead.
By the Writing
Let’s face it, writing a good book is extremely difficult. One agent once said that he’s looking for a book that he will love. Are you writing that kind of book? I certainly hope so, but if you receive a rejection letter (or never hear back from the publisher), there’s nothing unusual about revising or completely rewriting a book. If you haven’t read books like Lamott’s Bird by Bird that provide details about the difficulties of the writing process, you really need to do so before submitting a book.
The Nature of the Writing Business
While we write to inspire, to help others, and to craft something elegant and beautiful, publishing is a business, and therefore every writer needs to figure out a certain level of detachment from their work in order to think about the business end of things. That doesn’t mean selling out, only that when an editor writes back with a business decision to not publish a book, writers should not take that as the end of their creative writing or dream of publishing.
When a book is accepted, it should be both artistically and commercially viable, but hitting that correct balance for the right publisher takes a mix of luck, practice, and hard work. It probably won’t happen overnight, and if it doesn’t, then you’re in good company.
Before You Publish: Set Goals
I’d like to offer a brief series of posts on things to do before trying to publish a book…
When you begin to seriously consider publishing a book your first step will be identifying your goals.
Are you hoping to write full time? Are you looking to add some credentials to your current career? Do you have one particular idea that is so important you want to publish it?
How you answer these questions will determine your next step.
Publishing a book requires a tremendous amount of time and planning. It is rarely as simple as pounding out a book and shipping it off to a publisher who then takes care of everything for you, mailing a fat royalty check each quarter.
You don’t write to become rich—it rarely happens.
In addition, if your goal is to merely share information with a wide audience, there are a lot of other avenues available today that may in fact be more effective in drawing a larger number of readers to your work. One poet I spoke with said he has reached thousands more readers through his blog than through his book. While his book lends him greater credibility in some circles, the simple act of sharing his work can be accomplished effectively outside of book publishing.
Keep in mind that as the economy contracts, so have publishers, editorial staffs, book acquisitions, and marketing dollars. The competition is a bit more fierce and the desire of publishers to stick with trusted names is greater than ever.
All that to say, it is still very possible to publish today, and with smaller presses and self-publishing options there is no reason why you can’t one day hold a bound copy of your work in hand. Nevertheless, before setting out into the challenging world of publishing, be sure to identify your goals and make sure that publishing a book will be the best way to accomplish them.
I’ll continue this series next week with a few more things to consider before you publish.
Why The Future of the Book Industry Will Be Different, but Not “Bad”
The book industry is changing. Radically at that. No one will debate that point.
However, the question is whether or not this is a bad thing that spells the end of the book. I for one think that while the book and publishing world is going to be quite different, it does not necessarily have to be bad.
People still read quite a lot online and in books. People will always read.
My thoughts were spurred by this episode of On the Media that is a must-listen for every writer and publisher: Book It.
Too many books, not enough profits. That is the lament of many publishers these days. Plus, there’s the fear and loathing engendered by e-books. So, what is the state of the book industry and what can we expect in the coming years?
How books are written, published, and distributed may well change. In fact, the book as a sold commodity may become very, very rare. With the internet, readers have come to expect news to be free. I think that with so much file-sharing, they are beginning to expect that most music will be free or at least can be found for free. Books may well be next.
The difference will come with the kinds of ideas and stories within books, the design of the books themselves, and the desire of readers to have a copy of the book at their finger-tips after paying for it.
We’ve already been moving in this direction in many ways. I no longer feel a need to have a library of Bibles and dictionaries on theology since I can access them respectively online and from a CD-ROM. Some books are just a lot of fun to read and may have more value at a live event where the author performs and present the book in a fresh way, perhaps selling copies or perhaps giving the book away as an ebook and living off the performance profits. Nonfiction authors may have to live off their seminar fees, giving away ebook versions of their ideas.
And really, folks can already find most books for free at the local library, so there isn’t too far a leap into the world of free online ebooks. Just as a person will only purchase an exceptional or particularly relevant book after reading it for free in the library, we will soon expect to read most books online for free and then only purchase them if they truly grab us.
This is a different model for sure, and there will always be some remnant of the book industry since folks will always want to have certain invaluable books at the ready, but the scale of the industry will change, the paths to profit will diversify, and many authors outside of the bestsellers list will need to dig deep into their own wells of creativity and utilize the networks available to them.
Though some authors can still be just authors, the majority of authors will need to become speakers, performers, presenters, bloggers, podcasters, videographers, and who knows what else. The opportunities are out there. People are still reading books on paper and on screen. The only question is whether authors are willing to adapt to the changing times.
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