Hi again,
everyone. As I mentioned last time, over the holidays I did a series of book
signings and presentations and as always, I’m greeted by aspiring writers and
authors asking me a hundred questions about the publishing world. Believe me, I
love talking to them and imparting whatever knowledge I have and sharing my
story. But trust me, I am not the expert on this. I only know my story, but I am happy to share that with you and over the next couple of weeks on my blog, I will answer a couple of the most
commonly asked questions.
Once again, I am not an expert by any means. I know. “But
you have eighteen published books and a string of articles.” Every situation is
different for every writer. Every publisher and agent is different and have varying
submission requirements. And that is the first question all published authors
are asked: How did you get that first book deal?
My first book deal
came quite by accident. I was writing short stories and articles but never once
thought about writing a book. It was never on my bucket list. I wrote something
completely different – a CD-ROM (remember those?) about section hiking the
Appalachian Trail. One publisher rejected it but asked if I would write a book
for the company about hiking in Alabama and I was sent my first contract.
As I told a group
of fellow writers during a recent presentation, that first book, Hike America
Alabama (later renamed Hiking Alabama) might have come to me by accident, but a
lot of hard work doing research, hiking almost 100 trails, writing, mapping, and following the publisher’s guidelines made it a success which literally
had other publishers asking me to write other books resulting in thirteen outdoor
recreation books and three non-fiction history books to date.
There are three
different ways to land your first book deal. The first, and from all accounts
the most lucrative, is to have an agent sign you on. They do a lot of the
wheeling and dealing and, if they are worth their salt, get you the best deal
monetarily and get you into the larger publishers. I have yet to go this route
but might be soon with a new book idea I have. If I do, I’ll be posting my
adventures with an agent for you.
Another is to go
the self-publishing route. There is nothing wrong with being self-published, but
it takes a lot of hard work to make a go of it. For the most part, it is up to
you to promote, market, and sell your books, which could be at a considerable expense
to you.
The one drawback
I have seen in self-publishing is how the media treats a self-published author.
Let’s face it, there are some good books and some bad books self-published.
Many times, the bad outweigh the good since quite often there isn’t an editor
giving the work a second set of eyes to correct errors. The media is overwhelmed
by the number of these books published these days and refuse to spotlight any of
them. I was fortunate to have a local announcer on a radio station spotlight
one of my books that was published by a national company and interview me, but the lead-in suggested that even this was a rarity
and insisted that nobody else send a book to him to review or put on the air.
The third way is
the route I have taken and that is to go to a publisher directly. There are
many out there looking to publish your book. Some are good, some are bad. It
takes a bit of research to find the one that will be a perfect fit for your
book. Do a Google search on “publisher submission guidelines” and you will find
plenty of publishers out there who accept proposals from writers for books. If a
publisher says that it does not accept un-solicited manuscripts, then don’t
send one. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and your energy.
Now don’t expect
to be paid handsomely for your manuscript. Most, but not all, publishers who
accept un-solicited manuscripts have a set percentage you will receive in royalties
that are rarely negotiated and don’t pay top dollar. Some publishers pay advances,
usually half up front, the other half when the manuscript is turned
in. These types of publishers also have an editing staff to proofread your
finished manuscript a few times and discuss grammar and spelling changes and
suggest making certain changes in the text that you can accept or give your
reason why it needs to stand. They also offer varying degrees of promotional
assistance as well, taking the burden off the author’s back.
All of this doesn’t
mean that the author doesn’t have additional work to do. For example, online
marketing on social media and your own personal website and blog, setting up
additional book signings and attending conferences that the publisher may have missed to help promote and sell your book, and so
on, but it does take some of the work of the author's plate when it comes to getting that book out into the
world.
With the
exception of my first sixteen books, I realized that for my last two titles, SpaceOddities and Everyone’s Gone to the Moon, I would have to write my first real
proposal to get in the door. Surprisingly, the proposals were such a hit that
the publisher, Prometheus, is using it as a guide for new authors to go by when
sending in their own proposal. Next week, I’ll talk about writing a proposal that
I hope will help you get that first book published.
