The 10 Secrets to Getting Your Book Successfully Published

Melissa In charge of programming, with the DGPL Four Questions WHAT do you want to publish? - Adult fiction - Adult non-fiction - Children WHY do you want to publish? - Income - Help in speaking engagements - Lifelong dream WHEN do you want to publish? - 12 18 months - > 18 months HOW do you want to publish? - Traditional - Independent Publisher - Print on Demand - E-book Publishing by Numbers 2009 US trade book sales were $24 bil; 2009 e-book, $313 mil B&N, Borders, and Amazon account for nearly half of total sales There were 288,355 traditionally published new books in 2009 (790/day) - Fiction There were 764,448 POD titles published in 2009 - Fewer than 100 copies/title - Less publisher, more manufacturer At least 4 million unpublished manuscripts circulate annually 85% of books published are non-fiction 6 Largest Publishers Account for 90% of major bestsellers - Random House - Penguin - HarperCollins - Simon & Schuster - Hachette - Holtzbrinck Advances - Typical nonfiction advance: $10,000 - $25,000 - Typical fiction advance: $5,000 - $10,000

Where books sell - Internet (23%) - Big chain (22%) - Book club (10%) - Mass merchandisers - Independent (7%) - Warehouse/price club - Mail order - Supermarket - Other (21%)

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PubPoint #1
There is no easy path to finding a publisher (consider Seuss, Grisham, Clark, and
London). Seuss rejected 22 times Grisham 45 Clark 40 London 600

PubPoint #2
How do publishers spell success? $ucce$$ and how will YOU spell success?

PubPoint #3
The 10-10-10 Rule
Only 10% of the manuscripts sent to literary agents end up being represented by agents, only 10% of the agented manuscripts end up being published; only 10% of published books end up profitable.

PubPoint #4
Find a parking spot for your book!
To begin, go to a bookstore and ask if they stock your book.

Do the research yourself on how well your book sells

9 Questions You Must Answer Before Writing Your Book 1. What makes this book different? 2. What is the biggest benefit of this difference? 3. What problem is this book the answer to? 4. Who are the people out there that have this problem? a. Try to think of 3 different audiences! i. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary 5. What is the disaster waiting to happen if people dont read your book? 6. What popularly held myth does your book explode? 7. What is the BUT of your book? 8. What is the 5-second description? 9. Why are you the right person to write this book? Now youre ready for an agent But why do you need one? Major houses will not accept un-agented manuscripts An agent can help you get your manuscript into sellable condition An agent can match your book to the right publishers and editors An agent understands the art of negotiation (you do the writing, theyll do the fighting) An agent can see the forest from the trees NOTE: Agents should work on commission, NO upfront costs PubPoint #5 The most important writing youll ever do has nothing to do with your book! A query letter is the single most important page an unpublished writer will ever write. Its the first impression and will either open the door or close it. Its that important, so dont mess it up. Mine took 17 drafts and two weeks to write. - New York Time bestselling author Nicholas Sparks 3 essentials for EVERY query letter 1. Written to a specific person 2. No longer than ONE page (three to five paragraphs) 3. Professional to the core (and nothing that sounds self-serving) Dont forget to include a SASE if you want a response! 3 essentials for any NONFICTION query letter 1. Whats your book about & what do you have ready to send? 2. Why is this subject so important? 3. Who are you & how will you promote your book? a. Publishers want authors that basically sell the book for them!

3 essentials for any FICTION query letter 1. Start with a hook 2. Provide a compelling but concise synopsis 3. Tell them who you are and how youll promote Key elements of the all-important proposal 1. Title page 2. Overview 3. Approach/Specifications 4. Market Analysis 5. Promotion/Publicity 6. Competition 7. About the Author 8. Table of Contents 9. Sample Chapter For agents: http:://www.agentquerry.com http:://www.aaronline.org Getting down to serious business So an agent has accepted your work. Now what? 1. Sign agreement with agent 2. Agent sends proposal and manuscript to appropriate publishers 3. Pub boards discuss book, hopefully an offer is made 4. Deal is negotiated 5. Contract is signed with publisher (rights, royalties, free copies, etc.) 6. Book is completed by author and submitted to editor 7. Book is edited and re-edited 8. Book is pre-sold to stores and printed 9. Marketing plans are put into place 10. Book ships to stores 11. Author promotes the book 24/7 12. Book has about six weeks to fly or flop

PubPoint #6 The 5 Ps of Book Marketing

Placement Publicity Promotion Personal Selling Public Speaking

*A nationwide survey of 200 authors revealed that the median amount authors on marketing was $4,500. And now to self-publishing PubPoint #7 The good news is also the bad news: Anyone can be a publisher! 5 Reasons to Self-Publish 1. You only have to convince yourself that your work should be published 2. You dont have to wait 18 months for your work to be published 3. You maintain complete control over all aspects of the project 4. There are more options than ever for self-publishing 5. A successfully self-published book can land you a deal with a large publisher 5 Reasons NOT to Go It Alone 1. you will have to do a LOT of homework (on production, distribution, marketing, etc.) 2. ALL the details fall to you (copyright, ISBN, bar code, editing, design, legal, etc.) 3. Financial risk can be enormous 4. Time demands are huge, writing time goes down 5. Getting into distribution channels can be very difficult (wholesalers and distributors) 4 Ways to Publish/Print Your Book 1. 2. 3. 4. Offset printing (ideal for large print runs; low cost per unit) Short-run digital printing (ideal for small to mid-sized runs; higher per-unit cost) POD (ideal for one-at-a-time printing; caveat emptor!) Publish as an eBook (Amazon, Lulu, and Smashwords, Fastpencil)

PubPoint #8 Remembering the 2% Club when determining your print run. According to Nielsen BookScan, only 2% of the roughly 1.5 million different titles sold each year sell MORE than 5,000 copies (and less than 1% of all books sell more than 20,000 LIFETIME). PubPoint #9 To rack up the orders, think beyond Borders!

Ironically, bookstores can be the most difficult places to sell books. The typical chain bookstore stocks well over 100,000 titles. Think of at least 10 other places where you could sell your title. *75% - 80% books bought by women More proven tips to help you sell books Pack the car and drive it far Stack em high and watch em fly Its not the same without your name Know that free can lead to three (or 1,500) Make a connection in every direction Give your book a different look

PubPoint #10
So, is there a formula to follow for publishing success? Great idea + great writing + great promotion + great timing + unrelenting persistence = Published Book