Each month, over one thousand new books enter the market all looking for your
dollars. They are all struggling for attention and they all want you to be interested in
them. Some get bought simply because they are interesting. Others get bought because the reader recognizes the author. And the majority are bought because they were recommended by friends, co-workers, etc. But selling even a SINGLE book is a monumental task. Think about this…
You walk into your typical Barnes and Noble store, and you instantly have about 500,000 books to choose from. An author has to somehow get you to walk over to his/her section of the bookstore, have you look on their shelf, and then gain your attention. Maybe it's the title of the book that makes you pick up the book? Maybe it's the blurbs on the back? Maybe the topic is what you are interested in? Either way, you have to get that potential reader (and buyer) to pick your book up, take it to the counter, and then buy it. All the while, you're competing against other books that are JUST LIKE YOUR BOOK. But let's say the reader does buy your book. You hope that the reader likes your book so much that they'll tell others. But remember, it is 50-50 that a reader could also HATE your book, thereby telling everyone to NOT buy
your book. Selling books is VERY difficult to do, which is why most books don't actually sell large numbers. Most authors only sell a few hundred books, or perhaps a few thousand books, if they're lucky.
I start off on a pessimistic note because anyone thinking about becoming an author
should know the odds at every stage of the process to getting published in the first
place. Rejection is all part of the deal of being an author. But let's go over the process now…
In order to get published, you typically need the following: a literary agent and then a
publishing house. To get an agent, you need to purchase the 2004 Writers Market and find an agent that matches what you have written or want to write. You need to send the agent a query letter, and that's better explained within the Writers Market book. Follow their instructions and you should be okay.
If you are writing fiction, your manuscript needs to be complete. If you are writing
non-fiction, then you need to write a book proposal.
After you send out your query letters to agents, expect a 95% rejection rate from
agents. Now, you can get rejected for a number of reasons. The agent may not think
you have enough writing experience, or they don't like your writing style, or perhaps
your material doesn't match what they are looking for. But let's assume you get
picked up by an agent…
The agent will look over your manuscript/book proposal and give you tons of suggestions. How well you listen to their suggestions will determine whether your manuscript/proposal sells. Once you get the manuscript/book proposal finished to your agent's specs, s/he will then begin shopping it to publishing houses. Your agent will have a list of editors that they feel your material will fit with, and then they will go about pitching your project (and their other clients) to those editors. The editors will read your manuscript, talk with others in the house, including folks in marketing, other editors, their sales force, etc., and then make a decision on whether to buy or pass on your manuscript/book proposal.
Rejection Rate for publishing houses: 95%
If they decide to buy your manuscript and you are a first time author, they will more
than like pay you a tiny advance on your royalties (from around $1000 to around
$10,000) and then you will either wait for editorial notes if you wrote a fiction
manuscript, or you will get started writing your book if you are writing a non-fiction
book.
Now, there is another option. You can decide to self-publish your book and take out the agent and the publishing house, and increase your odds of getting published to 100%. And within the African American community, self-publishing has been successful for a number of authors. E. Lynn Harris, among others, started as a self-published author. But there are HUGE obstacles for self-published authors. One, you put out your own money to produce your book. Two, you compete against tons of publishing houses for bookshelf space. Three, you are limited in terms of distribution. Four, some readers have a prejudice against self published authors, thinking that if a publishing house didn't buy the manuscript, why should they buy the book? Not saying that's fair, but it is out there. I'm not self-published, so I can't recommend or not recommend self-publishing, but even if you go the self published route, more than likely you'll end up at a publishing house with an agent if you are successful. But one of the good things about self-publishing is that black editors DO look for successful self-published books and will buy them.
At any rate, you can see that getting published is a SLIM ODDS proposition. Only around 5% get through to get their books published, and even then, thousands of new books go on the bookshelf each month. But if you can stare those odds in the eye and think you'll be the author to sell hundreds of thousands of books, then you are ready to be an author.
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4 comments:
What about if you want to be a writer but your primary concern is not selling hundreds of thousands of copies of your book? What if your main concern is producing valuable art and getting it a chance to be seen by as many people as possible? What if you do not care about being a millonare? What if you just want to support yourself and write and are willing to teach or edit or take another job, as long as you have time to write?
In order to get your book to as many people as possible, you have to be concerned with selling thousands of copies of your book. If you aren't, then the publisher has absolutely no reason or incentive to keep publishing you. They put a price tag on the book for a reason, to make a profit.
If you aren't concerned with that, then I would suggest another form other than books. An online blog can get you exposure to thousands of people, but even that takes time and money to market and advertise effectively. But you have the freedom to write material in the way you'd like.
Most writers want to put out valuable art, so that's not a deciding factor in whether you get an opportunity to write books. Most writers don't make a lot of money writing books. And I ALWAYS tell writers to NEVER leave their day jobs unless they CAN support themselves via advances and royalties.
The reality is that a book can be critically acclaimed, but if it doesn't sell, then the author lessen his/her chances to continue to be published.
Lawrence thank you for your helpful tips on publishing. I've finished my first novel and have no idea what to do at this point. I am so happy that you decided to blog. At least now I am thinking of options and how to make those options work for me. Once again, thanks so much.
No problem Tonya!
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