In Part One of the discussion on traditional publishing, I discussed the give and take of traditional publishing. The publisher gives the author an advance and takes from the author the rights to basically do what they want with the book. The game then for the publisher is to chose a quality book that it believes is marketable, will be popular and sell many copies. This is why a traditional publisher is so choosy in what manuscripts they accept (usually from one to three percent of all submitted manuscripts) and why it is a good idea for an author to have an agent who knows the publishing ropes, and who can work on an author's behalf.
Generally, to have a chance at being picked up by a traditional publisher, an author needs an agent. Publishers receive numerous unsolicited manuscripts all the time. Many unsolicited manuscripts are not ready for publishing or are not marketable in their current state so they are not considered at all. While generally editors will look at all these manuscripts and actually read a few, the chances of being "discovered" among all the unsolicited manuscripts are slim to none. However, an agent has the experience to know what can be a successful manuscript and will personally submit a work to any number of publishers in hopes of receiving an initial positive response.
In order to obtain an agent and subsequently a publisher, an author will have to put together an all-embracing book proposal. This can be very time consuming and expensive if the author hires someone else to do it for them, and not necessarily successful if an writer decides to do it themselves. Then, assuming the author hires an agent, and the agent gets a publishing company to go forward with the manuscript, the agent negotiates a publishing contract. Chances are, most authors will not get a huge advance on their first book as the publishing company wants to see how successful a new writer can be. There are always exceptions, but for the average author, it is best not to plan on making a living on their first book! However, an author with a publishing contract will not have to come up with any money to get their book published.
If an author is published by a traditional publishing company, they will automatically have credibility as an expert with the prestige that goes along with that. The publisher will help with marketing and distribution of the book, providing some publicity support. They will get the book into stores. Sometimes the company will even set up opportunities for the author for speaking engagements and book signings. However, unless the author is very well known, this media exposure may only last for a couple of months. Even with a traditional publisher, for an author to prove their worth by sales (which will translate to bigger advances for a second book), they must be willing to put in time, effort and money to promote their own book in addition to any efforts by the publisher.
In the other articles in this publishing choices for writers series, I will discuss the more recent choices of publishing, including all the available options under the self-publishing umbrella, that an author now has to get their book published.
Candace C. Davenport is a retired attorney and published author whose love of writing led to co-founding a small independent publishing company, Our Little Books. Our Little Books ( http://www.ourlittlebooks.com ) is dedicated to publishing inspirational, educational and fun little books for pocket or purse. Candace encourages all people to find their inner muse and become published authors with their own little book, either for pleasure or for their business. Sign up for a free report on how Becoming a Published Author Will Improve Your Credibility and Make You an Expert in Your Field at http://www.ourlittlebooks.com/free-report/. Enjoy!
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
No comments:
Post a Comment