Ingredients for the Perfect Nonfiction Book Proposal

Lately, we have been getting a lot of calls and emails asking what goes into a book proposal. We are happy to post on any questions, but we thought this overview might be helpful.

When you are ready to pull together your "bits and pieces" and introduce yourself to the agent and publishing community, here are the elements you need to have ready to go:

Strong Positioning Statement – this is your elevator speech. 4 sentences or less on why your book will sell, who will buy it and why you’re qualified to write it. Remember, 4 sentences or less.

Overview—You get a full paragraph or two here. Describe what the book is, the subject matter it covers and why it’s relevant. Make sure you use marketing language and put your best face forward. You’re selling here.

About the Author—Make yourself shine. Highlight your media appearances. Talk about your blog or seminars or workshops. Be specific about your expertise and experience. Convince a publisher or agent that you have something to say, people are interested in what you have to say and you know how to sell your content.

The Market—While statistics may just be numbers, the reality is that numbers matter. You need to show that there is a large population of readers that will by your book. If you have a self-help book, talk about the number of people facing the problem that your book discusses. Business book? How many business out there are struggling with a problem that you have a solution for? Percentages, populations, and lots of facts drive the message here. If you have a message that people are clamoring for, most likely you’ve found an audience for your book.

Marketing Plan—The days of the publisher doing the marketing for your book are over. Any well-crafted book proposal includes the author’s own marketing plan. How are you going to sell your book? Think strategically and realistically within your budget. Do you have a website? If so, how many unique hits do you get a month? Have you been doing any workshops or seminars? Do you plan on writing articles for your local newspaper? Do you have contacts in the media that will help you get on radio or television? Have you posted articles about you and your book online. What’s your plan to get the word out about the book?

The Book—Include a detailed outline. If explanation is needed, 2-3 sentences per chapter that provides an overview is most likely enough to get you noticed.

The Competition—And yes, there is competition out there. If there’s no book exactly like yours, what books will be shelved near yours? What books have the same purchaser? List the competition. Consider including a sentence or two under each competitive title and highlight why your book is unique or different. Be realistic when listing competitive titles and how you’re book appeals to the same audience.

Endorsements—Talk to your friends. Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your acquaintances. Call in any favors. You want to show that people are reading your book and are excited about it. If they haven’t read the book (because it’s not quite finished, which is fine), get a quote about you and your program. How are you changing lives? How have you and your message impacted the people around you?

Sample Chapters—Read the guidelines for the agent or author you’re submitting to. How many sample chapters do they request with a proposal? Remember to proofread, proofread, proofread. No typos here. Include the best sample chapters of your book. This is your opportunity to show that you know your subject, know how to write about it, and can create a polished manuscript.

SASE—If you’re submitting unsolicited proposals, remember to enclose a SASE. Otherwise, you may never hear back from the publisher or agent with valuable advice or feedback.

Good Luck!

Before You Sign on the Dotted Line….

It’s thrilling when a call comes in from a client exclaiming “I’ve been offered a book deal with a publisher!”

We understand how exciting this news can be. All of the legwork and persistence has paid off and now it is time for advance monies and congratulations!

Aquisition editor, Bethany Brown, shares with us a few tips for authors dealing with the joys and stresses of negotiating their first publishing deal.

While getting the offer may SEEM like crossing the finish line, the reality is your work has just begun. Before you sign your contract, Brown stresses that it’s important to know your rights, understand what you’re reading and perfect the art of negotiation.

Most importantly, please consider the following:

1. The Publisher – Do they have your best interests at heart? Does your book “fit” with their existing list? Are you satisfied with the relationships you have built with that publisher?


2. The Deal – Make sure you read any contract carefully before you sign. Does that offer you’ve been made match industry standards? Have you done the math – and fully understand –the amount of money you’ll be making per book? Have you figured out the number of books that must be sold for you to earn back your advance?


3. The Marketing—While many people believe that a marketing plan should come with the contract, that’s simply not the case. Publishers, and editors, are too busy to develop a marketing plan for each book they take on. However, you can do some digging on your own.

• Request a Catalog – have you heard of the Publisher’s books? Specifically, can
  you research some of the books they’ve published in your same category and find
  out if they’ve received any press



• Speak with a Publicist – it’s perfectly appropriate to request 10 minutes of a publicist’s time to find out if they have experience working with your type of book and find out their “generic” marketing plan for your category.

If you’re satisfied with the publisher, the deal, and the marketing department, it’s time to move to the contract. If you don’t have an agent, we’d strongly suggest that you get a second set of eyes to review your publishing contract. Unfortunately, your family lawyer probably isn’t qualified to do it for you. Talk to other authors. Get online to check out publishing contracts. Call a consultant. Make sure that you’re getting outside advice on what you should be asking for.

Finally, don’t ever be afraid to negotiate. While the reality is the publisher may not be able to meet all your demands, you won’t know until you ask.

Advice for Self-Help Authors Looking for an Agent or Publisher

Yesterday, The Cadence Group received an email from an e-book Self Help author who wanted some advice. She says she will soon be looking for an agent and wanted to know where to start. My intrepid partner, Bethany Brown, offered her this great advice:

1. If your plan is to seek a publisher or agent in the near future, you need to start building your platform right away. In particular, if you're writing nonfiction. It's important to make sure that you – and your book – stand out in a crowd. A great way to do this is to start blogging, build a website, write articles for newspapers and magazines, and perhaps try to secure some speaking engagements and/or workshops using some of the ideas from your book.

2. Start thinking about your book proposal now. There are a lot of great books out there to guide you through the process. But a good book proposal requires a lot of research and planning. Mapping out the elements now will help you “fill them in” as you do your competitive research, build your platform and think about your marketing plans and strategy.

3. Get to know your category. Your book will only be shelved in one place in the bookstore. Make sure you understand your competition. How do you differentiate yourself? Is there a market for your book? Do you have a unique hook? Does your book "fit" with your category in regard to length, content and packaging.

4. When you’re ready to move on to trying to find an agent or publisher, might I recommend that your first stop be your local bookstores. Pull out books that are similar to yours and/or that you really like. Check the acknowledgement page. A good agent will often be thanked by the author in the acknowledgements. Look at the copyright page. Who published the book? Make a list of your top 10 – 15 agents and publishers and go home and check out their websites. Do they accepted unsolicited proposals? What format do that want to see your proposal in? Do they prefer a query letter as first contact? Pay close attention to their requirements and follow them – you don’t want to be discounted from the outset for a minor mistake.

5. Always make sure you research any agent and/or publisher before agreeing to work with them.

List of books we recommend for authors:

How to Write a Book Proposal, Michael Larsen

Nonfiction Book Proposals Anyone Can Write, Elizabeth Lyon

How to Get a Literary Agent, Michael Larson

Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why, Jeff Herman

Writer’s Market 2008

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents 2008: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over!

THE TRUTH about Amazon.com

I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Barbara Holstein to New Shelves. Dr. Barbara is the author of several books including her latest, The Truth. I asked Dr. Barbara to share with us her experiences navigating the world of Amazon.com.

Over the last several months, Dr. Barbara's book has steadily grown in rank and increased in sales through Amazon. The sales and success can be traced directly back to her efforts on the site as a participant in their numerous discussion groups and using the tools they offer. We could all learn a lot from her.

So, with that, I encourage you to enjoy this short and helpful article about her experiences on Amazon.com:

If you ever want to experience a deep forest with wild rivers and secret caverns, without even leaving home, I suggest you take a trip to the Amazon. That is www.amazon.com .

It is an amazing place. I've been visiting it on and off for more than a year and I am still getting to know my way around. When my newest book came out last January, THE TRUTH (I'm Smart, I'm a Girl and I Know Everything), The Cadence Group suggested that I have a profile page and do reviews of other authors.

Since that time I have created a profile page, have reviewed about 70 books by other authors, and am still doing reviews as often as I can.

I have started a few discussion groups and posted answers to others.

Also, I have tagged my own book, with explanations. When I have been able to chat with someone who may be reviewing my book later, I remind them to make sure to Tag.

All of these steps have taken a lot of time and effort. I don't know which of these steps has benefited THE TRUTH (I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything) the most.

That's the thing-it is a trip into the Amazon, and like any adventure into the great unknown, we don't always know what is working and what is not. But I can tell you, have faith and take the adventure. You will have a lot of fun and for sure your book's Amazon rank will profit. My book was #13 a few days ago in the top 100 for BEING A TEEN. That is a great reward for taking a trip into the unknown!

I wish you great success and happy adventuring.

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein,

http://www.thetruthforgirls.com/ , http://www.enchantedself.com/
Psychologist, Happiness Coach and Author

Book Marketing

Book Marketing is the act of letting the end user, the reader, know that your book is available and where to find it. Successful books are marketed in a manner that results in a reader purchasing your book and taking it home. A well-marketed book starts with a well-written marketing statement

Starting with the Basics:

To create a truly effective marketing statement, start with the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

1. Who will actually shell out the money to buy your book? Outline their age, finances, gender, and circumstances.
2. What makes your book worth the consumer’s dollars?
3. Where will your readers find your book?
4. When will your readers need your book? At what point in their lives will they need your book?
5. Why is your book more appealing than others in the same category are? (Be brutally honest here. Do you compete on price? Is your information more up to date?)
   How will your potential readers find out about your book?
   

Your Positioning Statement

Get all this down on paper and look at it. You are now prepared to write your book’s positioning statement. When you are ready to present your book to the world (readers, bookstores, publicists, buyers, etc.), the most important tool in your arsenal will be the positioning statement. This statement is 100 words that outline for a potential buyer the reasons why your book will be of interest to their clients.

These 100 words should not outline what your book is about. This statement exists to talk about the potential market for your book and how you, as the publisher, plan to reach that market.

For example, if you have identified your core readership as business executives looking for a new job, your positioning statement could look something like this:

Shut Up and Hire Me is a step-by-step program designed for the busy business executive. Each chapter was written and designed to be read in less than ten minutes. Unlike other career guides on the shelf today, Shut Up and Hire Me draws from the wisdom and experience of CEOs from more than thirty Fortune 500 companies. Interviews, combined with proven techniques, are provided to help executives find and land their next position. Author Bill Billiam has hired top New York PR firm, Blown Out of Proportion, and is the author of such previous works as: Better Dead than Unemployed and More Money for Less Work.

Try it and see what you can come up with!

Do You Have What it Takes to Be Published?

It is every writer’s dream to see his or her book in the front window of the local bookstore. It is fun to imagine tall, colorful stacks of your books surrounded by throngs of curious readers flipping through the pages while others rush to the cash register with their copy.


Feel free to continue this fantasy as you finish your manuscript, but in order to make that dream come true, the time is coming when you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a publisher.

Whether you are going to publish the book yourself or work to have it published by a mainstream publishing house, believe it or not, writing the book was the easy part. Your work is just beginning.


The first step on this journey to being published is to realize that for publishers, the dream location is not the bookstore shelf; that shelf is simply a short stop on the way to the real destination … a reader’s bookshelf.

The only bookshelf that truly counts is that of the consumer.

If you’re truly serious about getting your book published, then you need to shake off the fantasies and take a good, hard look at the challenges ahead. This isn’t meant to discourage you. On the contrary, the better prepared you are, the more successful you will be in reaching your goal.

The path a writer’s work takes through the publishing process, into the retail market, and then onto a consumer’s bedside table is arduous. I know that, as a writer, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool to help you overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: knowledge.

Take the time to learn about the industry as a whole, how to think like a publisher, and what steps to take to create a successful book. Step by step, maneuver the book industry's websites, discussion groups, newsletters, and advice forums.


Here are some importants sites and newsletters that will help you learn more about the industry. Check them out online!



Publishers Marketplace
Publishers Lunch
Publishers Weekly
Shelf Awareness
Yahoo Self Publishing Group
Publishing Basics



The best way to start a journey is to learn as much about your destination as possible. Once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to plan your route to get there. So set your writing aside for the moment and explore the book industry and learn everything you can about that oh-so-important part of the publishing industry: the reader.

What To Send to a Bookstore Buyer?

When selling a book to the bookstores, libraries, and chains, remember that the people seeing your book sales kit see hundreds of sales kits a day. They will choose a very small percentage of the books they see. Your kit can make the difference between a purchase order and a politely worded e-mail (We regret to inform you …). When you send a package to a buyer for consideration, it is your first and perhaps only chance to impress them. Here is a checklist of what is recommended for inclusion in your package:

• Color printout of the cover on heavy, glossy paper.


• A bound ARC/galley or comb-bound manuscript if the book is finished. Sample chapters printed out if it is not.


• Fully outlined marketing and publicity plan


• One-page title information sheet with :
  ISBN
  Title
  Subtitle
  Author
  Author bio
  Author hometown
  100-word description of book
  Order contact information
  Book category
  Retail price
  Page count
  Trim size
  Ship date
  Publication date
  Format
  Print run
  Co-op and advertising budget
  Title and ISBN of previous books by author or in the series
  Title and ISBN of books similar to yours

Top Ten Reasons Why Your English Teacher-Mother-Neighbor-Friend-Church Secretary Cannot Edit or Proof Your Book

1. An avid reader with a red pen is not a good substitute for an editor who knows how to polish and refine another's writing.



2. The amateur editor or proof reader does not know all the elements to look for.



3. They have not developed the years of training it takes to catch almost every mistake.



4. They do not know the proper arc and format of each type of book.



5. They do not know The Chicago Manual of Style standards for book publishing.



6. They do not know how to code a manuscript for the designers.



7. Yes, they catch every spelling mistake in their daily lives, but they do not catch every spacing, line setting, page number, and margin error.



8. They are not practiced in working in the publishing industry. They cannot offer the advice and guidance that a professional can.



9. They do not have the software and computer skills to work as efficiently as a professional.



10. Hire an amateur, and you will might lose your chance to publish a good book and end up publishing a could-have-been-good book.

Things I Am Grateful For

1. Bethany Brown joining The Cadence Group and being such a HUGE asset right off the bat.
2. Our wonderful clients and authors.
3. Book readers everywhere.
4. The fantastic group of designers, editors and printers who have made this year such a success.
5. The book buyers at the bookstores and libraries who were willing to take a chance on new books.
6. Friends and family who made this all possible. Those who, when hearing I was leaving my job to start my own business, said: "Go for it!"

You Are What You Think

Okay everyone... I mean it. It is time to turn off CNN and stop obsessively reviewing every news feed about the economy.

I know the book industry (and most other industries) are in the crapper and that there are huge losses being reported every day.

But it's time to get down to business. I've had enough of the hand wringing. I am sick of the culture of panic that we have all agreed to live with.

If it is true that we are what we eat, that we become, in large part, a sum of what we put in our bodies, than I believe that it is also true that we become a sum of what we put in our minds. I am not a huge fan of mind-body-hooey and can promise you that I will never read The Secret, but I do know this: We create our own reality.

If we spend all of our time being afraid of the future, we will not have the energy to improve that future. If we spend hours each day talking to cohorts about how bad things are, we are wasting opportunities to make them better.

I plan on spending some time each day working on ways to help my small, fledgling business survive this "down-turn". Not only do I plan to survive, I plan to thrive.

People are going to need books and companies will need help coming up with creative ways to make and market books.

I can spend the next few months blaming everything on the market or I can start believing that every day hold new opportunities, even in a recession. I can either wallow in depression and accept defeat before it has arrived, or spend my day happy and excited, doing my best.

How are you going to spend your day?

Julie & Julia

While I know the rest of the world has already read and celebrated the brilliance of Julie Powell, the author of Julie & Julia, I am just getting to it.

What a fantastic book! I have been laughing so hard outloud that people are looking over at me with disapproving looks.

Go get it. Read it. Enjoy.

How To Get The Cover Design You Should Have

It’s not hard to learn what a properly designed, professionally published book looks like. Thanks to Amazon and the Internet, you can do much of your research from home. A lot, but not all. Your fingers won’t be able to do all the walking. You also need to get your legs moving … up, down, and around the aisles of your local bookstore.

Internet chat rooms, industry magazines, and online bookstores can provide some good information, but if you are serious about becoming a savvy, market-driven publisher, you need to spend a great deal of time in the marketplace. It is time to get out from behind your desk and get out among the books.

When you get to the bookstore, wander up and down all the aisles … not just those of your favorite categories. With a pen and paper in hand, slowly pace around the store moving your head back and forth noting titles that jump out at you from the shelves. After six or seven aisles, go back and look at the books you wrote down. Were they face out? Were just the spines showing? If the books you noticed were spine-out, what do the spines have in common? Was the lettering large and easy to read? What colors were used?

Now go wander around the display tables—all the tables, not just the ones you would normally peruse. What cover do you notice first? Which books do you think about picking up? Write these titles down. Go to the next table and continue to notice your reaction. Write down the titles of the covers that draw your eye there. Once you have cruised all the tables and aisles, you will have a strong list of the spines and covers that appealed to you.

Your list from the bookstore is a great way to discover what you like in a cover. The next step is to find out what the bestselling books in your category look like. This can be done online. Go to Amazon or BN.com (or both) and pull up the top-selling books in your category. Scan through the covers and see what colors are hot right now. Check out the fonts and see what the books have in common. For example, for a while, many bestselling self-help books were yellow and blue. During that same period, a majority of the bestselling business books had white covers and huge lettering.

The colors, fonts, and looks that herald an up-to-date cover change constantly. Once you have done your research, don’t rest on your laurels. Return to the bookstore and check bestselling lists every month to stay current.

You have found what appeals to you and identified what a new bestselling book in your category looks like. Can you find a book on the bestseller list that has the qualities that appeal to you? Can you find two or three? Grab the covers from the Internet and make a file to later give to your cover designer.

What Happens Next?

A client of mine has just crested 4000 units sold into the "traditional" book market. She has sold to bookstores, online and libraries. She has made no money. The cost of manufacturing and promoting her book to GET 4000 sales has far outstripped what she has made.

Another client pre-sold 3000 copies of each of her three books into a national chain. She has yet to see a dime for books sold 8 months ago. The big retailer does not need to pay the little guy.

Returns are killing the creative publishers, slow-to-pay wholesalers are crippling the small houses and the shipping costs are climbing at a dizzying rate.

I would suggest that a fully executed, well marketed sales campaign handled totally on line makes some sense. Shoppers look for information on the web now. Why not offer them the books they need while they are on line?

Amazon and others buy in small, appropriate quantities, rarely return any books and pay monthly.

Are stores the wave of the past? Is brick-and-mortar dead? Dying? Is there any reason to stay with actual bookstores?

Booksellers will say that they provide a valuable community service, that they can recommend and nurture a wonderful gem of a book in a way the internet cannot.

Total Crap.

Yes, bookstores are a lovely place to spend an hour and they are a community resource, but in this economy and with time at such a premium, the average reader can get the exact same services from a trusted book review blog.

Word of mouth has moved on line. It may be time for book retailers to do the same.

More Layoffs at Borders Group Inc.

Yesterday I got the call from a VP at Borders that it was to be his last day. Long time merchandise department employees were being moved out and a new structure was being put into place. This was the third such call I'd gotten in the last few months from Ann Arbor. Over the last year, Borders has been structuring and restructuring, working and reworking their systems to try to find the right balance between the old way and the new.

With so much speculation about whether or not Borders will be sold or if they will declare bankruptcy, I am glad to see Borders is still working to try to find answers for their business. I hope they find what they are looking for... the thought of a Border-less book industry makes me a little queasy.

For years, Borders was seen by publishers as the "good chain". They were open, more laid-back, their schedules and processes were less rigid than other retailers. They were the Ben & Jerrys of the book world.

But times have changed, things are looking bleak, financial reports are in, and Borders is not as successful as their more corporate rival.

I put it to you... why not?

Distribution... The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Not all distributors are created equal. There are good and not-so-good distributors.

The good ones will keep the books in their warehouses, send their reps out to bookstores to present the books to the buyers, take orders, ship the books, negotiate the cost, bill the stores, and after taking their cut, hand over all the profits paid back to the publisher. When possible, the reps who sold the books to the book buyers will give the publisher feedback as to the reaction the books received. Direct, front-line, market-driven feedback is the key to a good distributor. They can help you keep your determination and focus when books are taking a long time to sell. More often, the feedback can teach a publisher about the changes necessary to the next print run of the book to increase the salability.

The not-so-good distributors will warehouse a publisher’s books and wait for a bookstore to order them. Once the order comes in, they will ship, bill, and handle the accounting, but there will be no follow-up, no creativity, or marketplace-driven marketing or feedback.

Be careful when choosing a distributor. Make sure you do your research. Contact a few of the publishers listed on the distributor’s Web site and ask how they like working with their distributor. Call your local independent bookstore and ask if they carry that particular line of books.

I recently asked Greg Snider of Blu Sky Media Group, a well respected distribution company, to offer some advice about what to consider when researching distributors:

Some questions to ask a prospective distributor:

1.) How long have you been in the distribution business?
2.) How many publishers/companies do you distribute?
3.) How many titles/products do you distribute?
4.) What genres/categories do you distribute?
5.) How many sales reps does your company have? (In-house or outside commission?)
6.) What are your set-up/cataloging fees if you were to accept me as a client?
7.) What percentage of net sales do you take as your distribution fee?
8.) Are there any additional monthly charges that I might incur? (Warehousing, order fulfillment, returns processing, administration, etc.)
9.) How far in advance of my release date do you need to properly sell my title?
10.) What is the length of your agreement?

What you should expect from a distributor:

1.) To correctly list your title data for ordering with all the major brick and mortar, online retailers, and wholesalers.
2.) A thorough presentation of your title to the major retailers and wholesalers in their territory.
3.) Inclusion into the distributors catalogs.
4.) Inclusion of your title in the tradeshows the distributor exhibits/attends.
5.) Timely processing of your title’s orders and returns.
6.) Monthly printed or online sales and inventory reports.
7.) Monthly communication via phone or e-mail to discuss progress.
8.) Access to marketing and advertising opportunities with wholesalers, retailers, and/or consumers.
9.) Continual sales of your title even after the first season.

What you should not expect from a distributor:

1.) Miracles! Your books will not magically appear on every bookstore shelf.
2.) To do all the work. Without a solid, well-planned advertising/marketing campaign geared toward your audience, the distributor will not be able to sell your title to the retailers and wholesalers. This is the publisher/author’s responsibility and not the distributor.
3.) Guaranteed sell through. Once a distributor gets your books onto a bookshelf, it is the publisher’s job to make sure that they fly off the bookstore shelf.


Getting into a distributor’s catalog is a difficult task. It is a very competitive segment, and good distributors are careful to only take on clients whom they feel will be successful. Every successful publisher increases a distributor’s reputation; an unsuccessful publisher can drive a distributor’s reputation down.

What you can do when approaching distributors to improve your chances:

1.) Have your book/advanced reader copy professionally designed. Packaging is key to all products including books, so a professional design is a must.
2.) Have your book professionally edited. Do not use your cousin Susie who’s an English teacher at your local high school as your editor. You need a professional to help you make your book the best it can be from a content standpoint.
3.) Have a detailed plan for your marketing, advertising, and PR. Also, include your budget of what you intend to spend. We see so many submissions from publishers/authors who do not have a plan to let consumers or their target audience know the books exists.
4.) Be willing to listen to the professional. Distributors, retailers, publicists, book shepherds make their living selling books. If they give you advice regarding your book, take it. It may mean the difference in selling a ton or none.


Distribution contracts usually start at two-year terms. They are taking a big risk by taking you on, and they want to safeguard that decision by protecting their investment with a minimum two-year term. It takes at least two years to launch a program properly and to start to see results. They are well within their rights to ask this of a publisher. However, you are well within your rights to get certain agreements from them as well. You should be able to get out of your contract if you can show that your books did not receive the activities contracted.

A distributor’s cut could vary from 25 to 40 percent of the net billing of each book. Some distributors will claim 15 - 20 % distribution fees, but after the charges, fees and add-ons, the total is back up over 25%. Just about every distributor has additional monthly fees, and most require an initial deposit for new clients, but it is up to you to add up what you are really paying. Don't be fooled by a lower initial number. So the math.

Before you balk at the cost, keep in mind that it is very difficult, expensive, and time consuming to handle your own warehousing, purchase shipping materials, and learn how to ship exactly how each store wishes their shipments to arrive … and everyone is different. (It’s a little joke they like to play on publishers. I am convinced that bookstore owners get together every two years to devise slightly altered yet completely incomprehensible trafficking instructions.) Then comes the billing, monthly statements, handling claims for books damaged in transit, taking in returns, and reconciling the amount due with what the bookstore believes is due.

After that, consider the money and time it takes to tell the country’s thousands of buyers about your books. The sales reps working for distributors have long-standing relationships with the book buyers in your hometown, across the country, and in the major chains. You would not be able to start a fledgling relationship on your own with these buyers. What an experienced sales rep can often do with a phone call, you could rarely accomplish with six months and a great deal of research, e-mails, flyers, catalogs, paperwork, and free samples.

But nothing replaces a publisher’s drive and efforts. The main thing to remember is that a distributor is often as good or as bad as the relationship between the publisher and the distributor. If yours is one of thousands of books on the oppression of clover farmers in New Guinea in your distributor’s catalog, you will not get the time and attention you desire. If you are not out there pushing your book into the press and media, creating a demand for your distributor to work with, they will not keep you for long.

Take your time choosing a distributor. Make sure you are a good fit and that you both share the same goals for your books. If you cannot find a good fit with the distributors that are willing to carry your book, consider doing your own marketing and sales for the first year. Better to wait and do for yourself than be trapped in a loveless “marriage” with the wrong distributor.

Creating Your Sales Schedule

So many publishers and authors call me wanting to get into stores right away. I get calls in March from hopeful authors wanting to get onto Mother's Day table displays. I hate disappointing people, but I have to tell them that stores choose displayed titles 5-6 months before hand. Stores buy books with a set monthly budget that is used up many months before hand. If you want to successfully launch your books into the retail marketplace, let’s take a look at the items you will want to cover in the months leading up to your publication:

Eight months before your book’s pub date:
Send your book’s data to the wholesalers, retailers, Internet companies, and industry databases.
Hire publicity and marketing firms or create publicity and marketing plans on your own.

Seven months before your book’s pub date:
Contact all database departments and confirm that your book is in their systems correctly
Create sales packages containing sample chapters, table of contents, a color cover, sales information sheet, and a marketing plan.

Six months before your book’s pub date:
Send sales packets to the wholesale and retail buyers.
Write cover copy and marketing plan for back of the Advance Reader’s Copy
Design ARC.
Send ARC files to printer.
Send ARCs to buyers.
Call buyers to follow up and present book information. Request promotion and placement for your book.

Five months before your book’s pub date:
Research potential promotion and placement opportunities appropriate for your book (front-of-store tables, postcard mailings, Internet ads …).
Check again to see that all databases have your book information and have it correctly.

Four months before your book’s pub date:
Send ARCs to reviewers.

Three months before your book’s pub date:
Call reviewers to follow up on review packages.
Buy ads and initiate marketing for launch during pub month.

Two months before your book’s pub date:
Send finished books to buyers with request for orders and updates on your marketing buys.
Participate in a library outreach campaign through your distributor or find a service that allows publishers to announce books to librarians.
Send copies of your finished book to companies, corporations, and catalogs that you feel best represent your book’s audience.

One month before your book’s pub date:
Call all key buyers and confirm orders are in place

This is by no means a complete list, but it will give you an idea of what successful publishers plan for and the schedules they keep.

Hardcover vs. Paperback

The days of books having to be launched in hardcover are over. Important fiction and non-fiction are now releasing in paperback all the time.

According to Independent, Barnes & Noble and Borders book buyers, people don’t buy books in hardcover the way they used to. These days, 75 percent of the DOLLARS spent on fiction are trade paperbacks. Remember how less expensive paperbacks are, factor in the price difference, and this means that less than only a small percentage of the fiction books sold in America are hardcover. And those sales are usually reserved for big houses with established, big-name authors.

Yes, there are exceptions, but if you want to maximize your chances of stocking and sell through, you will not take the chance that you will be one of the very few exceptions. Everyone thinks that they will be different. They aren’t.

I know that hardcover books are more appealing for authors. They think of hardcovers as more legitimate. They believe the hardcover will bring in more dollars. They believe that libraries want hardcover and think that they cannot get reviews with paperbacks. But those ideas are outdated..

Reviewers now review trade paperback fiction all the time. Libraries have less money than ever before and many prefer trade paperback for new authors. The ever shrinking number of Librarians who prefer hardcover can be served with Hardcover Print-on -demand.

Hardcover books from new authors or small houses are rarely, if ever, stocked nationally by major chains; therefore, sales are far less likely than in trade paper. (Example: If a national chain book buyer likes a book from a new publisher, he or she might take in 150 of a hardcover versus being willing to test 800 to 1,000 of a paperback.)

A well-known fiction buyer with more than twenty-five years’ experience has seen the passages of our industry and has kept himself up-to-date with the changing elements. When asked about hardcover versus paperback, he had this to say, “With so many small presses pitching fiction today, publishers should be obsessed with placement. They cannot get placement with hardcovers. Hardcover sales are hemorrhaging…. Please, tell your publishers to stop publishing in hardcover.”

That said, there are times when publishing a book in hardcover is a good idea. Many books are not published for the bookstore shelves. You may be publishing a book destined for corporate sales or you may be a speaker who plans to sell your book from the back of a Marriot Inn conference room. In these circumstances, publishing a book in hardcover and making the extra dollars that come from the higher price might be best.

Always keep the customer in mind when you are choosing the type of book you are going to publish. For example, if you have written a crumpet cookbook, your potential readership may have more disposable income and prefer a book that lays open heavily and will be used and reused often enough to warrant the durability of a hardcover book. If you have written a cozy mystery, your readers may not appreciate a $25 price tag and having to hold up a big, heavy book for hours while they read.

If you are concerned for your older readers, who prefer hardcover because of the bigger type, print your paperback with a larger font.

The bottom line is this... identify your reader and make sure you are creating a book that meets their desires and specifications, not yours.

Til later - AC

Books are here to stay

Why do people buy books? What kind of people buy books? What kind of books do they buy? The answers to these questions are changing rapidly. It used to be that if you had a specific need (job interview, wedding, new baby, etc.) you would go to the store and pick up a book on that topic to educate yourself on the newest thoughts on that subject. Books were the preferred tool for disseminating new information. Not anymore.

Magazines (also a changing animal) hit the scene and trained readers to grab for the “highlights” on a topic. No longer did people feel that they needed a deep, thorough understanding of their topics. They learned that they could “get the gist” in three to five pages at most and, in most cases, do just fine.

Then came the Internet. Think you have lupus? Log on! Want to cultivate a pink-and-white-only garden that will not be eaten by your local deer population? www.girlydeerresistantgardens.com to the rescue!

The people who think they are too busy to read a whole book and cannot find the time to catch up on the stack of magazines piling up on the counter can now have seventy-five words on any given subject electronically handed to their inbox to be downloaded and absorbed in seconds.

But what about novels? Fiction? Yes, there is still a strong market for beautifully written, well-edited, sharply crafted fiction. Keep in mind, however, that the competition from popular, established authors and brand-named celebrities with clever marketing/ghostwriting/PR teams have driven the chances of a new writer’s work appearing on a national chain’s bookstore shelves way, way, way down. Therefore, many talented writers are moving to Web-based and self -printed digests.

Fans of savvy, edgy writing are flocking to Websites to get their daily dose of prose. Every day, established, talented book authors are writing 3000–5000 words for readers who will never see those words in a printed book. ’Zines, Web digests, salons, and blogs are changing how fiction readers get their fix.

This does not mean that books are dead. In spite of the Cassandra-like warnings from experts over the last 100 years that the book was becoming obsolete, books are here to stay. Newspapers, radio, and television did not kill the book nor will the Internet and iPod. Books offer a sense of comfort and reliability that other mediums simply can’t touch.

What is changing is how we think of "books". E-books are getting an erratic and ever strenghtening launch into our culture. It will not be long before hand-held electronic book machines gain full and total acceptance by an entire generation of readers who will still refer to what they are holding as a "book". It is a book. A book that is more environmentally friendly than paper and more handy than carrying six to ten pounds in one's suitcase on a long vacation.

Let's not get too hung up on what a book is and keep our eye on what we need a book to be.

For people who hear a particularly compelling speaker and want to learn more about there message, there are books. For those riding to work each day who want to escape into a good story, there are books. For those who want to deeply explore a topic and have a reference to which they can always go to, there are books.

There will always be books.

Bookstores as the new Top 40 radio station?

It seems that each day brings another industry bulletin about how a bookstore has closed or how a chain will be reducing the number of titles it will carry. Brick and mortar stores are having to make hard choices; limiting their selection.

High retail rents, gasoline for delivery trucks, the economy, and unemployment can all be blamed, but not for long. Yes, it is time for consumers to tighten their budgets, but that is not the driving force behind the reduction in titles on bookstore shelves.

As a culture, we have become used to "shortcuts" and "hot-keys" in our work and home life. Our radios offer the same 100 songs each day with only a smirking nod to "independent" music. Technology does more than entertain and assist us; it often makes our choices for us. As we sink more deeply into our dependence upon technology, we lose our willingness to work for our pleasure.

Gone are the days when we slowly browsed a library or bookstore shelf looking for the perfect book to fit our mood. Those of us who find the time to read a book no longer have the time to search for one. We reach for the review section, listen to the latest NPR praise and ask our friends what their bookclubs are reading.

Armed with a vetted list, we can log on line or run into a bookshop and make a beeline for the front table. Chances are, the 11 books we have heard good things about are stacked there.

It is not that America does not have time for books, we don't have time for bookstores. That is bad news for both parties. We want a quick hit, a guaranteed success, a sure thing. There is nothing wrong with that, but it will forever rob us of that one amazing "find" that could have altered our thinking; the hidden gem that could touch us so personally and deeply.

I understand the America is asking for fewer choices and that the bookstores have to do what is best for their business... I guess I was just hoping for more time before the book industry became what radio degenerated into 30 years ago.... a place for the masses to be told what to enjoy.

Your Book's Journey

It is every writer’s dream to see his or her book in the front window of the local bookstore. It is fun to imagine tall, colorful stacks of your books surrounded by throngs of curious readers flipping through the pages as others rush to the cash register. Feel free to continue this fantasy as you pound the keyboard, but if you’re interested in turning the vision into reality, then suspend the writing and read on.

In order to make that dream come true, you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like a publisher. For publishers, the dream location is not the bookstore shelf; that shelf is simply a short stop on the way to the real destination … a reader’s bookshelf. The only bookshelf that truly counts is the consumer’s. This blog has been created to guide your book into (and then out of) the hands of people who actually paid money to read it.

If you’re truly serious about publishing your book, then you need to shake off the fantasy and take a good, hard look at the challenge ahead. This isn’t meant to discourage you. The better prepared you are, the more successful you will be in reaching your goal.

The path a writer’s work takes through the publishing process, into the retail market, and then onto a consumer’s beside table is arduous. On this journey you will encounter misleading signposts, paths damaged by overuse, and rough road from underuse. But you will also experience a number of wondrous sights and resting places. The sweeps and turns of the publishing path can be fascinating—but even more rewarding if you know the lay of the land ahead of time.

As a writer on the verge of publishing, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool that will help you to overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: knowledge.

The best way to start a journey is to learn as much about your destination as possible. Once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to plan your route to get there. So set your writing aside for the moment as we explore the book industry and the oh-so-important destination: the reader.

To be continued...