Selling Your Book: Where to Begin
Recently, I’ve had a few requests from writers interested in learning more about getting published. That’s a sprawling topic, and writers at various stages of their career would probably benefit from different kinds of advice on the subject. But today I thought I would forge into the fray and try to give some basics on making that leap from finished manuscript to a publishing contract.
First up, you have to know what you’re writing and how it fits in today’s marketplace. If you’re not sure how to categorize your work, visit the bookstore and search out books that reflect yours in theme, voice, style, content. You might discover your humorous voice tends toward David Sedaris, but you’ve written a punchy take on modern religion. Have you created a new niche? Or are there books similar to yours out there?
If you find similar books, the next step is to note the publisher. This could be a publisher for you to target. Also, see if you can hunt down that author’s agent – check the dedication or scan the Internet for interviews or information about that author’s book sale—and put that agent on your list of places to submit your work. If that agent liked author A’s voice, he/she might like yours as well.
Even if you didn’t find any books similar to yours in the store, you should still come away with a clearer idea of what you write. Dark mysteries with a touch of satire. Heartwarming romance set in small town ....America..... Quirky slice-of-life essays about motherhood. Be able to define your story brand as specifically as possible so you can communicate it to editors and agents. This helps you sell yourself. It also helps them sell you—to their editorial board, and eventually, to readers.
Once you’ve come up with a list of potential publishing houses and/or potential agents, you need to do some serious thinking about how you want to move forward. Do you want to try and investigate the publishing houses on your own and do your own submissions? Or would you feel more comfortable with a knowledgable agent promoting your work to editors? You might decide to target publishers first-hand and then learn, after checking out each publisher’s submission guidelines, that most of your target houses only accept submissions from agents. Then you’re back to square one. More on agents in a future blog post.
For now, let’s say you wish to submit to publishers yourself. Visit their websites and study their guidelines. Follow these to the letter! If they ask for a certain format, they’re not kidding. Single spacing a submission instead of double spacing just gives them a reason to kick it back to you. That’s an easy rejection. You don’t want to give them any reason to reject you, let alone easy ones. You’re goal is to make yourself and your book a proposition they can’t ignore.
All of which brings us to the need to develop marketing tools for your work. In short order, you’ve got to start developing a compelling query letter, a dynamic synopsis, and a tightly focused book blurb. That’s just for fiction. If you’re writing non-fiction, you need much different support materials, including an overview of the competition. For more on what’s needed, check out the wonderful article on the BookEnds Agency website:
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-book-proposal-for-nonfiction.html
I’ll be back with more on agents shortly and will follow up with pieces on queries and blurb-writing. Good luck!