Bestselling Authors 2 of 10

2. They Write, And Write And Write….
The productivity, the writing output, of bestselling authors is much greater than the average writer’s. They have the discipline to get up each day and produce high quality work. They don’t wait for the muse to tap them on the shoulder. Some authors’ annual literary production is phenomenal, such as Nora Roberts who often comes out with two extremely popular books each year— year after year. Or Catherine Coulter, who has produced more than fifty bestsellers so far in her career.

What Do Bestselling Authors Have in Common? 1 of 10

What Do Bestselling Authors Have In Common?
Ten Things That May Surprise You.

What separates the publishing industry elite, the bestselling authors, from all the thousands and thousands of writers who aspire to someday make the bestseller lists? It turns out that writing talent is not the only separating factor; in fact it may not even be the most important factor.

1. Perseverance Is Key

Nearly all bestselling authors faced the same struggles early in their careers that less successful, even unpublished authors, face. Immediate success is rare. One distinction of bestselling authors is that they do not get as discouraged by lack of early success. They persevere. Their desire to succeed is enormous. Bestselling authors often have to demonstrate the patience and stamina to write a number of books before achieving notable success.

Dee Power
Co-author of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them.

A bad agent can be worse than no agent at all.

Types of things to watch out for with agents:

• Charging the author a fee up front, to be accepted as a client. Can be called a reading fee, or a monthly “office expenses” charge. The best agents, and most successful ones, only charge a percentage fee of royalties the author earns, typically 15%. Suppose a realtor charged you a fee to come over and tour your house before getting the listing? How quickly would you show that realtor the door. . .
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• Charging back unusually large “postage and copying fees” to send out an authors’ work. One crooked agency accepts almost every client that contacts them, but in the fine print of the contract they charge “postage and handling” of up to $10 per submission they send out on your behalf. It doesn’t cost $10 to send a letter and a sample chapter of a book to a publisher. This company makes a fortune from these fees whether or not they actually successfully market any of their clients work.
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• Directing authors toward specific editing services or giving authors’ names to these services. Sometimes they even own the editing service. Some agents make a significant portion of their income from referral fees from these services.
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• Terms in Agency contracts with writers vary widely. Must be read carefully. Not standard at all.
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• The agent contacts publishers pretty much at random. The agent’s value to you is in the relationships they have with publishers, so that if the publisher hears from them, they know the book is worth taking a look at. Ask to see copies of rejection letters that come back from publishers. If it looks like just a form letter response, rather than a letter you would send to an acquaintance, you can bet the agent may be just picking names out of a directory of publishers.

• Puts forth a weak effort or gives up on the client’s project after a few months. You have a right to ask how active the agent is going to be. How many publishers are they going to contact, how will they follow up? You also have a right to periodic reports as to whom they have contacted and the results. You must determine how much time and attention they are really going to give you.

Another reason it is imperative to have a reputable agent is that the publishing house typically pays the agent, who deducts their “cut” and sends the remainder it to the author. It’s a frightening thought that a less than honest person gets their hands on the money you’ve earned from sweat, blood, and even tears.

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Dee Power, MBA, was born on the East Coast and grew up on the West Coast. She started her writing career in the second grade by writing a Thanksgiving Day play that debuted before many appreciative parents. Dee has been interviewed as an expert on the publishing industry by The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press and various local publications. She and Brian Hill are the authors of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors, and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them, Attracting Capital From Angels, Inside Secrets To Venture Capital and the novel, Over Time. You can reach her through her website, http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com

Fiction

Again the query letter should be no more than two pages. Trying to distill all the plot and characters of a complex novel down to a few paragraphs can be agony. But again, everyone is in the same boat. So don’t worry if your first draft doesn’t read quite right.

The fiction query is tricky because you want to show the creativity of your fiction writing—and make a sales presentation to the editor at the same time.

You need to get the reader’s attention right away. Perhaps pose a question: “Have you ever wondered what a near-death experience really feels like?”

Then, summarize the characters, plot, and theme.

Þ Emphasize the challenges the main characters face, and how they overcome them.

Þ The protagonist/antagonist conflict. Drama is conflict.

Þ “Put the characters up a tree, throw rocks at them, bring them back down.”

Remember that memorable books have memorable characters.

“Character drives plot, not the reverse.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald

You also need to describe the genre the book fits in (romance, chic lit, mystery, mainstream, literary). Tell who the audience is for the book. And of course include the word count.

Describe your writing background, publishing credits, or educational level. Along with any specific reasons you are the best person to be writing this particular book.

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Dee Power with Brian Hill are the authors of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors, and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them, Attracting Capital From Angels, Inside Secrets To Venture Capital and the novel, Over Time. You can reach her through her website, http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com

To Be or Not To Be: Published

Writer’s Digest estimates that there are 24 million people in the United States that consider themselves writers but less than 5% are published. Published? What exactly is published?

With the advances in technology these days, print on demand specifically, anyone can become “published;” if published is defined strictly as written material that is accessible to the public.

Many authors who have chosen the publish on demand (POD) route, insist on sharing the title of published. It’s true their books can be bought on internet sites, can be ordered in bookstores, although they are not, as a general rule, stocked by bookstores, and are available as bound physical copies, mostly trade paperback.

But isn't there more to being published than being available to the public? Are these authors really published or have their books just been printed? After all, no third party has objectively reviewed their work and deemed it marketable. No publisher has risked their resources, through paying an advance, printing several thousand (or in the case of a small press – several hundred) copies, and devoting marketing efforts to promote the title.

The publishing industry seems to consider publish on demand books second class citizens as well. Many newspapers will not, as a matter of policy, consider POD books for review. Quite a few authors' associations, The Author's Guild to name one, don't accept POD books as qualification for joining. Acquisition editors at publishing houses and literary agents don't consider a publish on demand book a writing credit.

Many bookstores including Barnes and Noble will not stock POD books. Yes, you will find a few copies in bookstores here and there. Bookstores want to support local authors.

I asked Michael Powell Will books published by POD publishers ever reach the mainstream of the bookstores?

Michael’s answer: “No. While the physical appearance of these books has improved over the last few years, the quality of the inside content hasn’t. There’s no recognizable imprint of a house, you don’t know what you’re getting. There is no editor to vet the book, there is no sales staff in place, no catalog, no distribution system, the sales terms aren’t the norm. I don’t think those types of books will ever make it outside the ‘local author’ or ‘regional book’ arena.

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It’s not that I begrudge the status of published to any other writer. Or that I believe there are only so many publishing slots available, and I have to elbow the other writers out of the way, a dance of musical chairs for books if you will.

Just because a title has been accepted by a commercial publisher doesn’t mean that it is necessarily better than any other specific self published book. And not all good books eventually find a publishing home.

There is almost a backlash from publish on demand authors, a bitterness, or jealousy, of commercially published authors. I’m not sure why.

What is the definition of published?

Dee
http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com
Co-author of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them and several other books.

Literary Agents: All You Need to Know (well almost)

Part One

Every day for the next two weeks there will be an installment. Questions about agents are encouraged in the comment section. If I don't know the answer I'll try to find out.

The Probability of Publishing

Traditional publishing houses include major players such as Warner Books, small publishers such as Algonquin Books, niche publishers, and regional publishers. Traditional publishers pay the author, usually an advance and royalties based on the actual sales of the book. There is a range between small and large publishing houses as to these payments. But the key is the author gets paid. The author has no upfront fees to pay the publisher and isn’t under any obligation to purchase any books.

Traditional houses are very selective when acquiring books. While 172,000 new books were published in 2005, estimates have been made that only 1 out of 1000 books written gets published. Writers Digest has said that there are 24 million people in the US who describe themselves as creative writers. Less than 5% of these writers have actually, ever, been published.

Publisher or Literary Agent?

Literary agents represent the author’s work to publishers for a percentage of the author’s earnings, both the advance and royalties. An agent is up to date on which editor at what house is interested in what subjects, or in the case of fiction, which genre. Agents act as a screening device for editors at the publishing houses, filtering out the uninteresting, badly written or boring manuscripts and only presenting the professionally polished saleable works to the appropriate editor. Or that’s how it works in theory. A (good) agent can quickly get the attention of book publishers. They spend time and energy developing relationships with publishers.

The agent negotiates the contract between the publisher and the author. There's more to it than just the size of the advance and royalty percentage. There are foreign rights, television and movie rights, audio rights, syndication rights and more. The payment for those rights are split between the publisher and the author. The payment to the author can go against the advance or can be in addition to the advance. In other words, if an advance of $25,000 was paid for the title, the author would have to wait until the sales of the book earn the amount of the advance before any additional monies are paid. Or the payment for the sold rights can be paid immediately. The agent can negotiate which.

The agent receives the entire advance from the publisher and deposits it into an escrow account set up for the author at the agency. The agent then subtracts their commission, usually 15% and writes a check from the escrow account to the author. any additional royalty checks over and above the advance are treated the same way.

Do You Need An Agent?

NO

All three of our nonfiction books were placed by us directly contacting the publisher.

Small publishing houses and niche publishers are more open to being contacted by an author.

An entertainment or literary attorney can negotiate the contract for you, or review it for far less than the 15% agent’s fee.

Editors at major houses attend writers’ conferences and will consider pitches by authors at those conferences.

Romance publishers will often accept queries from authors directly.

YES

An agent can guide you in putting together a book proposal.

An agent is a buffer between the editor and the author during negotiations and throughout the publication process.

An agent knows what is reasonable in a contract and what isn’t.

An agent knows which editor has changed houses or is looking to broaden a list or add a new category to their list.

When there is a disagreement between the editor and the author, the agent can step in and resolve the differences.

Concerning fiction, nearly every major publishing house says they work only through agents. Unsolicited manuscripts are often returned unread.

Even bestselling authors still require an agent.
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Come back tomorrow and we'll cover Finding An Agent.

Dee Power is the co-author, with Brian Hill of Inside Secrets To Venture Capital, Attracting Capital from Angels, and the novel Over Time. Her latest book, The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them, includes extensive research on the publishing industry and interviews with bestselling authors, editors, agents and experts.

How to Find a Literary Agent: Use the Write Bait

Most aspiring authors begin their careers with little or no understanding of how to go about finding an agent to represent their work. They quickly learn that most major publishing houses only accept submissions through literary agents. So, they begin sending query letters to agents and, usually, meet with a cool reception, or even hit a high, solid, impenetrable brick wall. We surveyed over 60 literary agents, from both large well-known agencies as well as smaller “boutique” agencies, to get a perspective on how authors can improve their chances of attracting an agent, and to find out the outlook for new authors trying to crack into the publishing industry.

We asked the agents:

In attempting to find an agent, how much competition does a new author really face?

What is the most common reason you decline to represent a writer?

What is the most critical mistake writers make when approaching agents?

Where do agents find clients?

In the next 12 to 24 months do you see the publishing industry becoming more or less favorable for new (unpublished) authors?

In order to obtain the most candid comments possible, we told the agents their responses to our questions would not be attributed to them (and as a result they were even more candid than we expected).

How Much Competition Does A New Author Really Face?

Unfortunately, the response was: a tremendous amount. The agents reported that they receive, on average, 90 unsolicited submissions per week. Out of these more than 4,500 submissions that come in each year, the agents, on average, took on 11 new clients. This means that the typical agent agreed to represent a little more than 2 out of 1000 of the authors that contacted them with unsolicited submissions. Regarding the 998 authors who did not receive a contract, we asked the agents:

What Is The Most Common Reason You Decline To Represent A Writer?

Poor writing 60%
Book was outside the agent’s genre 17%
Agent’s client base was full 10%
Writer’s work and agent don’t click 8%
Other 5%

The good news is that the top two reasons given are factors that are under the writer’s control. Most authors develop and improve their craft over a number of years, and even bestselling authors say when they were first starting out their initial literary efforts left something to be desired. A dedicated writer certainly doesn’t have to remain in that “poor writing” category.

But what exactly is “poor writing”? In the decline letters they send to authors, agents often say they turned the author down because they aren’t enthusiastic enough about the material. A favorite phrase used by agents in turndown letters is, “I simply didn’t fall in love with the writing.” This is probably the source of more author frustration than any other aspect of trying to get published. Success or failure hinges on extremely subjective judgments, and once the judgment is rendered, it is final. Talking an agent out of an opinion is pretty much impossible. Think about your own reading experience. How often do you pick up a novel, read 10 pages, decide you aren’t interested in it, and put it down? Does that mean the writing was “poor”? Not at all. It simply means you didn’t connect with the story, for reasons you may not even be able to articulate. Every individual’s literary taste is different.

One frequently received type of rejection isn’t really ‘rejection’ at all: The agent has all the clients they can handle at the present time, so they really have no choice but to send a decline letter to unsolicited submissions. The agent in this case was doing the author a favor; far worse it would have been to accept a new client that would not get the necessary attention from the agent. Too often, though, authors interpret receiving a decline letter such as this as, “my book must not be any good.” Actually, the agent may not even had time to read your submission package.

Notice that the fact a writer was unpublished was not a significant reason for being rejected as a client.

What Should Be In a Book Proposal

The agent said yes to the query letter! Finding out how to write a book proposal is your next step.

The agent will let you know what they want to see. Even with an affirmative response, they don’t always ask for a full manuscript. A nonfiction book hasn’t been written yet in most cases, so there isn’t a manuscript to send. What publishers and agents will ask for is a proposal for your nonfiction book.

A Nonfiction Book Proposal

Concept:
A brief, no more than one page description about why your book is unique.

Market:
Who will buy your book and why. Include the demographics of your potential readers and how many of them there are. If you can, quote statistics, such as baseball is the most often viewed sport on TV with x million people watching. Or x number of people attend arts and crafts shows a year. Or $xxx dollars of revenues are generated by customers buying garden tools. Whatever is relevant to your book’s topic.

Competition:
Similar books that have been published in the last year or that will be coming out soon. You can get an idea of soon-to-be published books by going to amazon.com, and searching under key words. When you get a listing of books that you think are similar to yours, then rank by publication date.

Include the title, author, ISBN, and a brief description. Then state why your book is better or what your book addresses that the competition doesn’t.

Go to the library and read currently available books you feel are competitive to yours. Again include the title, author, ISBN, and a brief description. Then state why your book is better or what your book addresses that the competition doesn’t.

All books have competitors.

Promotion:
What you will do for promotion. How will you market your book? Be specific. If you are willing to give seminars or speak at events, try to line up a few. Publishers want authors that actively market their own books. This doesn’t mean that you have to spend money, but it does mean you have to expend effort.

About The Author:
Pretty self explanatory. What makes you the best author to write this book. This is not a resume; include what is relevant to the topic of the book. If you have previous books published list them, with a short description.

Media Placement:
Any newspaper or magazine articles you’ve been featured in. Include articles that you’ve written and have published. Offline, hard copy publications are better than online. Online is better than nothing. Plan ahead and in the months while you’re working on your book proposal see if you can get a few articles placed. If you have just a few, include clippings. If you have more than a few, list the publication, date, title of the article. Writing a book makes you an expert in the eyes of the media, but you have to let them know you’re available.

Endorsements:
If you can get a well known authority figure, expert, celebrity or author to give you an endorsement, or to commit to an endorsement, it puts you ahead in the game.

Chapter Outline or Synopsis:
Two to four pages. Each chapter is listed and the subheadings with a brief description, a paragraph or two explaining what will be included in the chapter.

Sample Chapter:
It doesn’t have to be the first chapter. Pick the chapter you’re most excited to write, or that you are the most knowledgeable about. The editor will judge the quality of your writing by this chapter.

The proposal not including the sample chapter can run from 10 to 20 pages.

Discover How You Can Achieve Your Dream And Get Your Book Published. Sneak peek of Dee Power's new book, The Publishing Primer. Get your free chapter. Find out how books get in bookstores. How bookstores select titles. How the bestseller lists work. What boosts a book to the top of the bestseller list? And frequently asked questions about publishing

What's the outlook for the next generation of authors

The Outlook for The Next Generation of Authors

Agents do not envision a great deal of change on the horizon. They are mildly negative about the next 12 to 24 months. When asked the reasons behind their forecast, the most common responses were:

Industry Consolidation, Changes Within the Publishing Industry Itself
Changes in Book Retailing
Publishers are Becoming More Risk Averse
The Pessimists
The Optimists
The Impact of the National Economy

So What Can a Debut Author Do?

1) Study the elements of a good query letter.

2) Make your contact letter succinct, positive, but not obnoxious. Stress that you understand the market for your book and how to address that market.

3) Learn what types of manuscripts individual agents are looking for and send yours out to the agents that match up the best with your topic or genre.

4) Don’t give up.

Why Do Agents Say No?

Literary Agents Everything You Need to Know (well almost)

What is the most common reason agents decline to represent a writer?

60% Poor writing

17% Book was outside agent’s genre
10% Agent’s client base was full
8% Writer’s work and agent don’t click
5% Other

The good news is that the top two reasons given are factors under the writer’s control. Most authors develop and improve their craft over a number of years. An aspiring author certainly doesn’t have to remain in that “poor writing” category forever.

But what exactly is “poor writing”? In the decline letters they send to authors, agents often say they turned the author down because they aren’t enthusiastic enough about the material. A favorite phrase they use is, “I simply didn’t fall in love with the writing.” This is probably the source of more author frustration than any other aspect of getting published. Success or failure hinges on extremely subjective judgments. Think about your own reading experience. How often do you pick up a novel, read 10 pages and decide you aren’t interested in it? Does that mean the writing was “poor”? Not at all. It simply means you didn’t connect with the story. Every individual’s literary taste is different.

One frequently received type of rejection isn’t really “rejection” at all: The agent has all the clients she can handle at the present time, so she really has no choice but to send a decline letter to unsolicited submissions. The agent in this case was doing the author a favor; it would have been far worse to accept a new client who would receive inadequate attention. Too often, though, authors interpret such a decline letter as meaning “my book must not be any good.” Actually, the agent may not have even had time to read the submission package.

An encouraging note is that the agents’ answers here indicated that the fact a writer was unpublished was not a significant reason for rejection.

You’ve got your list of potential publishers or agencies, now what?

The first step for both nonfiction and fiction is the query letter. It is your chance to open doors to the publishing industry, to agents and publishers. Because of the volume of submissions agents and publishers receive, it has become the standard way of make a contact, rather than sending out entire manuscripts. Absolutely, positively include an SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) for the agent/publisher to contact you.

Why you need a query letter and how to write it

You never want to send a full manuscript. It won’t be read. The standard method of contact is the Query letter. A good query letter is short, one to two pages maximum.

The goal of query letter is to get the manuscript or book proposal requested by the agent or publisher. Often they request just the first 60 pages, read that, then decide whether they want to read the full manuscript.

Þ Think Like A Businessperson Trying To Make A Sale, Not an “Artist”

Writers tend to think they are the publisher’s customers, as though the publisher exists to make their dream of being a published author come true. The truth is that publisher’s real customers are the people who purchase and read books. So your goal as a writer is to demonstrate how you can help the publisher reach his or her objectives. In the query letter, you introduce both the specific literary work you want to sell them, and yourself, your background and accomplishments.

Þ There is something unique, fresh, different about your book

Þ You are professional: you will be able to deliver the manuscript on time

Þ You are willing to expend effort to market the book

Þ You have the background, experience to write the book you are proposing

Þ It fits in the publisher’s area of concentration

Þ Your book has a large market

The query letter is very challenging to write: you have to choose every word carefully. Also, your target audience reads so many of these each week, it is difficult to make yours stand. Even if you write the “perfect” query letter, it’s still a crapshoot whether your work will be requested.

The emphasis of the query letter is on “Why readers will buy my book,” rather than “Aren’t I a great writer.” Don’t start with: “It’s been my lifelong dream to be a writer.” They don’t care. It is their lifelong dream to sell more books than their competitors.

How many queries should you send out? Try batches of five or ten, then measure the response you get. You may need to tweak the content of your query letter.

Suppose you send out the first batch and no one asks for the book. What does that mean?

Suppose you send out ten. You get three polite turndown letters and no response from the other seven. What should you conclude?

1. The agent may not be taking on new clients
2. You have no talent
3. Your book has no market
4. You didn’t express yourself well in the letter
5. The agent is swamped with submissions and didn’t have a chance to reply
6. The agent is rude and threw your letter away
7. The publishing industry isn’t interested in new writers
8. You contacted an agent that is not interested in your genre

Most likely one of the following is the case:

1. The agent may not be taking on new clients
2. You didn’t express yourself well in the letter
3. The agent is swamped with submissions and didn’t have a chance to reply
4. The agent is rude and threw your letter away
5. You contacted an agent that is not interested in your genre

Important rule:

Not hearing a positive response should not be interpreted as REJECTION, of you or your work. It may simply mean you are not getting anyone’s attention. In less polite terms, they didn’t give you the time of day.

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Tomorrow: The agent said yes to your query letter - now what?

Dee Power is the author of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors, and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them, Attracting Capital From Angels, Inside Secrets To Venture Capital and the novel, Over Time. You can reach her through her website http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com

How to Get a Book Published: How Bookstores Select Titles

After the agents, editors, and the marketing departments at publishing houses have all made their decisions about what will be published, in what quantities, and how the finished product will look, there is one final decision maker who ultimately decides what books will be presented for sale to consumers: The buyer for the bookstores. The decision maker for the independent bookstores is often the owner, or the owner and several employees.

The chains have corporate buyers who specialize in different areas. The buyer looks at the prior sales history of the author, or if it is the author’s first book, the buyer will look at similar titles or topics. Of course the publisher’s sales rep, or the distributor, lets the buyer know of the marketing push the title will receive.

If advance reading copies (ARCs) are available or galleys – the uncorrected page proofs of a book, those are sent to the chains and major independents three to four months prior to the title’s publication date.

Booksellers usually buy their first order of a new title from the publisher through their sales reps. Subsequent orders can be placed directly with the publisher, through a distributor or wholesaler, which allows the bookstore to batch their orders to several different publishers and receive one invoice and make only one payment. It allows the bookstore to return books from different publishers to one place –the wholesaler.

The decisions book buyers make about what titles to stock are a blend of taking into account the sales pitches from publishers’ reps, historical sales data available about an author or a topic, knowledge of their customer base—and to a large extent simply what their gut instinct tells them will be popular.

How to Get a Book Published: Bookstores Sell 50% of Books Published

50% of books meant for consumers are sold through bookstores. If you're wondering how to get a book published make sure your publisher's books is stocked in bookstores. The first bookstores in the United States were established at least as far back as 1640. At that time, quite a few booksellers were also book publishers. By 1700 there were 30 booksellers in Boston alone. However, these stores didn’t restrict themselves to just books but sold other merchandise as well. Richard Hoe’s invention of the rotary press, which spewed out pages at the rate of 8000 sheets an hour, opened up the mass market for books. The divergence between bookseller and book publisher began to widen.

Book publishing is a $37 billion dollar industry in the United States. It has been estimated that the five large publishing companies, Random House Inc., Penguin USA, Simon & Schuster, Time Warner and HarperCollins, account for nearly eighty percent of all book sales in the US. This has occurred for the same reasons any other industry goes through consolidation: by combining certain administrative or staff functions, costs can be reduced and profits increased. Publishing, relative to many other industries, has not enjoyed a high Return on Investment (ROI) for investors. Now publishers are much more focused on having every single book they publish be profitable. This means a more risk averse philosophy, with a preference for publishing authors with successful track records--a sound business strategy.

Currently there are about 2000 chain bookstore locations. An additional 2200 independent booksellers belong to the American Booksellers Association. There are some 50,000 locations that sell books. Around 50% of books meant for retail sales are sold in bookstores, only about 10 -15% of new books are sold online.

Barnes and Noble is the largest chain with 796 stores. Annual revenues from those stores are $4.7 billion which translates into sales of almost 445 million books per year. A typical Barnes and Noble store offers 150,000 - 200,000 titles to shoppers.

Oddly enough Barnes and Noble is re-instituting the old fashioned idea that booksellers are also publishers. Its wholly owned company, Sterling Publishing, has the publishing or distribution rights to 10,000 titles and has actively published 5000. They own a chunk of IUniverse, a publish-on-demand company. The CEO of Barnes and Noble, Stephen Riggio, is the Chairman of the Board for IUniverse.

Borders Group owns about 1100 stores in the United States and has revenues of about $3.8 billion. It operates Borders Books and Music and Waldenbooks. The chain is the outgrowth of two independent bookstores. Walden Books was established by Lawrence Hoyt in 1962. Borders Books was established by Tom and Louis Borders in 1971. K-Mart Corporation purchased Walden Books, which in turn purchased Brentano's Books in 1984. In 1991 K-mart purchased Borders Books and formed Borders-Walden Group and renamed it Borders Group, Inc. Borders Group Inc. then went public in 1995.

BooksAMillion was founded in 1917 as a news stand and has grown to 205 stores, primarily in the Southeast. They own a book distribution company, American Wholesale Book Company. Revenues were just a bit over $.5 billion in 2008.

Books are sold in a myriad of other locations besides bookstores, such as grocery and drugstores, at the airport, and in the big box stores like the aforementioned K-Mart.

Getting your book into bookstores is a critical step in how to get a book published.

Where Do Agents Find Clients?

Referral from one of their other clients 39%
Direct contact by the writer 33%
Referral from editors and publishers 9%
Referral from other authors not their clients 8%
Referrals from other agents 5%
Attendance at writers’ conferences 3%
Other 3%

It comes as no surprise that referrals from their current clients were the top method cited. Publishing is a relationship based industry. Contacts are extremely important. A recommendation from someone whose opinion an agent trusts always is valued and receives prompt attention. Several careers of top selling authors were launched when another bestselling author took them under their wing and introduced them to agents or publishers.

What might be surprising is that as many as one-third of the agents said direct contact from the writer was the most common way they found new clients. There is most definitely hope for the budding authors out there, sweating over the last draft of that perfect query letter to send out to agents.

More on agents

What Is The Most Critical Mistake Writers Make When Approaching Literary Agents For Representation?

Agents we surveyed responded as follows:

Poor writing or poorly prepared contact letter 44%
Inappropriate subject or genre for that agent 22%
Author’s hype, ego, arrogance 18%
Uneducated about publishing process 16%
Lack of knowledge about the book’s competition 8%
No platform for nonfiction 6%

Poor writing or poorly prepared contact letter

It comes as a surprise that agents report they get so many weak query letters. A number of books have been written on the subject of crafting a query such as Making the Perfect Pitch by agent Katherine Sands. Numerous writers’ conferences also cover this topic in depth. A query letter isn’t really that complicated to compose—particularly compared to writing a 100,000 word novel.

Inappropriate subject or genre for that agent

The second most popular response to the question reflects that the writers don’t do their homework when selecting agents to contact. Sending a wonderful query about your, say, cookbook, to an editor that specializes in placing mystery fiction is simply a waste of everyone’s time. Reference books such as Writers Digest Guide to Literary Agents point out very clearly what individual agents are looking for. Not that some of their preferences don’t seem odd, even a bit nonsensical. In one reference guide agent warned, “Don’t send me any right-wing Tom Clancy stuff.’’ Did this agent really mean to say he’d turn down the chance to earn 15% of the mega-royalties author Clancy has earned in his career?

Author hype, ego, arrogance

Agents report that creative people oftentimes have big egos. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Part of the problem stems from author’s awareness of how many other writers they are competing with for the agent’s attention. The temptation to use hyperbole to differentiate oneself can be overwhelming.

Of course, then some of the agents go on to contradict their colleagues by warning against over-selling and arrogance. “Trying to act more like a sales person, and not like a writer,” one agent said. “Hyping the agent. A straightforward recitation is much more effective.” But another one said the worst mistake was, “Not writing an engaging query.” “Writing dreary query letters describing the plot of the book.”

Now we’re starting to get confused. Do the agents want an exciting query, or that “straightforward recitation”?

Uneducated about publishing process

The author who is truly talented and dedicated to the craft of writing has a clear advantage right from the start; the overwhelming response from agents was that the quality of many submissions they receive is poor. The author who can articulate the market for his or her book is also way ahead. The author needs to think of himself as a small businessperson entering a new industry, not as a “literary artist.” They must be able to address the question, Who is going to buy your book and why? Authors who can show they will be helpful in selling the book once it is published are particularly sought after in today’s marketplace. Writers should not assume that an agent, or an editor at a publishing house, will automatically recognize who the target audience is for a book, or how large that audience might be.

Lack of knowledge about the book’s competition

The responses below point up something that many authors don’t even stop to consider what the competition for their book might be. They have no idea whether their book is really new and different (nonfiction) or whether it fits into a fiction category that is “hot.” Food product manufactures talk of the keen competition for shelf space at the grocery story. The same holds true in the bookstore shelves. Can you imagine where in the store your book might appear?

No platform for nonfiction

“Platform” is something everyone in the publishing industry is talking about these days—it should be nominated for the coveted “Industry Buzzword of the Year” award. Having a “platform” is one of the best means of getting your non-fiction book to the top of the agent’s to-do list. Platform simply means the built-in audience you have for your book, and the media exposure you can generate for your book, apart from the marketing done by the publishing house. If you can say, “I am a frequent guest on the _______” (nationally syndicated radio program). Or, “I publish an Internet newsletter that has 20,000 subscribers.” You are telling a publisher that a potential audience already exists for your book—lots of readers know who you are—and therefore you represent less of a risk to the publishing house, because awareness often translates into sales.

FAQ on book publishing

What is the difference between mass market, trade paperback and hard cover?
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The way the books are produced and consequently how they’re priced. Mass market are the smallest in size usually 4” by 6”, they are the least expensive from $4.99 to $9.99, the binding is perfect which means the pages are glued in. The cover is paper. Trade paperback is 5” by 7”, mostly nonfiction titles, the prices range from $9.99 to $24.99. The cover is paper and the binding is perfect. Hardcover or hard back comes in various sizes, the pages are stitched to the binding, and the cover is cloth covered over cardboard. The price ranges from $19.99 upward.
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More FAQs on book publishing

Do I have to pay the advance back?
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In most cases, no, only if you don’t deliver an acceptable manuscript by your deadline. If the actual sales of your book don’t reach the amount that was advanced, and 90% of books don’t, you don’t have to pay the difference back.

Which is easier to get published fiction or nonfiction?
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Nonfiction. Of the 172,000 books less than 10% were fiction.

What category of fiction is the largest.
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Romance, 55% of all mass market paperback books sold are romances.

What is backlist, mid list and front list?
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Backlist books are those written in the prior year(s) but still selling and still being published. Publishers select a small percentage, probably less than 5% of the books published in a season and actively promote those books in the front of their catalogues with full page descriptions including national promotion, book tours dates, advertising budgets, first print runs, as their front list. 95% of books published are mid list, in the middle of the catalogue, no ad budget, no promotions, no book tours.

Query Letters

You’ve got your list of potential publishers or agencies, now what? The journey of how to get a book published begins with the query letter.

The first step for both nonfiction and fiction is the query letter. It is your chance to open doors to the book publishing industry, to literary agents and book publishers. Because of the volume of submissions agents and book publishers receive, it has become the standard way of make a contact, rather than sending out entire manuscripts. Absolutely, positively include an SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) for the agent/publisher to contact you.

Why you need a query letter and how to write it
You never want to send a full manuscript. It won’t be read. The standard method of contact is the query letter. A good query letter is short, one to two pages maximum.

The goal of query letter is to get the manuscript or book proposal requested by the literary agent or book publisher. Often they request just the first 60 pages, read that, then decide whether they want to read the full manuscript.

Think Like A Businessperson Trying To Make A Sale, Not an “Artist”

Writers tend to think they are the book publisher’s customers, as though the publisher exists to make their dream of being a published author come true. The truth is that book publisher’s real customers are the people who purchase and read books. So your goal as a writer is to demonstrate how you can help the publisher reach his or her objectives. In the query letter, you introduce both the specific literary work you want to sell them, and yourself, your background and accomplishments.


There is something unique, fresh, different about your book You are professional: you will be able to deliver the manuscript on time You are willing to expend effort to market the book You have the background, experience to write the book you are proposing It fits in the publisher’s area of concentration Your book has a large market

The query letter is very challenging to write: you have to choose every word carefully. Also, your target audience reads so many of these each week, it is difficult to make yours stand. Even if you write the “perfect” query letter, it’s still a crapshoot whether your work will be requested.

The emphasis of the query letter is on “Why readers will buy my book,” rather than “Aren’t I a great writer.” Don’t start with: “It’s been my lifelong dream to be a writer.” They don’t care. It is their lifelong dream to sell more books than their competitors.

How many queries should you send out? Try batches of five or ten, then measure the response you get. You may need to tweak the content of your query letter.

Suppose you send out the first batch and no one asks for the book. What does that mean?

Suppose you send out ten. You get three polite turndown letters and no response from the other seven. What should you conclude?

1. The agent may not be taking on new clients
2. You have no talent
3. Your book has no market
4. You didn’t express yourself well in the letter
5. The publisher is swamped with submissions and didn’t have a chance to reply
6. The agent is rude and threw your letter away
7. The publishing industry isn’t interested in new writers
8. You contacted an agent or publisher that is not interested in your genre

Most likely one of the following is the case:

1. The agent may not be taking on new clients
2. You didn’t express yourself well in the letter
3. The publisher is swamped with submissions and didn’t have a chance to reply
4. The agent is rude and threw your letter away
5. You contacted an agent or publisher that is not interested in your genre

Important rule:
Not hearing a positive response should not be interpreted as REJECTION, of you or your work. It may simply mean you are not getting anyone’s attention.

Don't give up after the first 10, 20 or even 50 rejections. In this case persistence is a virtue in how to get a book published.

Discover How You Can Achieve Your Dream And Get Your Book Published. Sneak peek of Dee Power's new book, The Publishing Primer. Get your free chapter. Find out how books get in bookstores. How bookstores select titles. How the bestseller lists work. What boosts a book to the top of the bestseller list? And frequently asked questions about publishing

About The Authors
Brian Hill and Dee Power have written several nonfiction books including The Publishing Primer: A Blueprint for an Author's Success and The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them. They are also the authors of the novel, Over Time

Frequently Asked Questions About Publishing

How long does it take to get a book published?
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On the average about a year. Six months to write a nonfiction book or revise a novel after a publishing contract has been signed and six months for production from editing the manuscript to finding your book in a bookstore.

Why does production take six months?
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The actual production process of revising and editing, copyediting and proofing the galleys could be quicker. But enough time has to be allowed for obtaining endorsements, distributing ARCs (advanced reading copy) and bound galleys to reviewers and promoting the book to booksellers, libraries and such. Many major review publications like Publishers Weekly, insist that they receive the review copy at least four months prior to publication. Many newspapers will not review a book currently available.

What is the typical advance and royalty?
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There isn’t one. The advance can range from $0 to over six figures. Royalties can range from 5% to 15%, based on the net price the publisher receives to retail. The percentage can also be on a sliding scale based on how many books have been sold, the more books, the higher the royalty percentage.



Dee

Getting a book published by a commercial royalty paying publishing house is a tremendous accomplishment. It has been said by Writers Digest that 24 million Americans consider themselves 'writers' and yet less than 5% have published anything.

When we surveyed literary agents (for our book) they said they agree to accept only one out of every 500 writers for representation. The most common reason they decline to represent a writer is poor quality of the writing. You know what didn't even show up on the radar as a reason to decline a new client? The fact the writer was unpublished.

About 15% of novels published by the commercial royalty paying publishing houses are debut novels. There is hope for new writers. There is no bias in the industry against new authors. There are just millions more writers trying to get published than the book industry can support. And it's not the publishers or even the booksellers who are holding back the flood gates. It's the writers themselves, they're just not good enough.

Before you flame me from here to h-ll and back. Think about it. There are millions of people who play golf, but only a handful of golfers who are good enough to be professional.

Millions of people sing, but only a few are good enough to sing professionally.

Millions of people dance, but few, very few, have the talent to dance professionally.

Having a book published is not an entitlement. Authors aren't published because they deserve to be published, because they worked hard or because they have survived misery and abuse. Books are published because the publisher has deemed there is a viable market for the work.

Does every good book get published? No. Are the best selling books the best telling books? No. Are authors who have been published better writers than those who haven't been? Not necessarily.

Don't sell yourself short. Hold out for a real commercial publisher.

Dee

http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com