EJ opened her publishing business in an effort to help authors navigate the publishing process, never forgetting what she went through originally to publish Angel On Board.
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Urgently recommended reading
by author Scott Degraffenreid, Social Network Analyst, ~author of the N.U.D.E Model!
I came back to your class because it was a very valuable class, but mostly
I came back because I loaned this book out to someone and I needed a new copy!!!
It is a great resource for novice writers.
CFU student of "How to Publish Your Book"
This book is used as a textbook at the Colorado Free University where EJ Thornton teaches publishing classes.
Writer's Market
An industry standard book that lists all the publishers in North America is the Writer's Market. This lists 10,000+ publishers, their contact information, their editors' names, whether they are an imprint of another publisher, how many books they publish each year, how long of a process it is once a book is accepted for publication to the point where it is released, what genre's they publish and what they want as far as query or submitted manuscript.
Foreword
This book has been put together in an effort to answer the questions that are being presented daily to me, a publisher, by authors and would-be authors all over the world.
The story of how I became a publisher is unlike most.
I wrote a book.
It was a good book. Everyone who saw it, loved it. It was not a perfect book, as many who fancied themselves editors loved to point that out. But it was a book that touched souls and changed lives and I knew that it had to be in print.
I joined "writers" clubs to see what other authors had done in this situation - I wanted to learn what tricks it took to get a publisher's attention. I learned how to write query letters and submit manuscripts - paying strict attention to guidelines. So, I did - I submitted and submitted and submitted and got rejected and rejected and rejected.
No one else could see my vision, yet I saw it as plain as day.
One of my fellow authors spoke of his experiences self-publishing and it caught my attention, as he was very successful. He had first commercially published and subsequently self-published and vowed to never commercially publish again.
Why?
Money. Control. Time. Love.
Money: He compared his two experiences. In both cases, there were 5000 copies of the book sold.
In the case of the commercial publisher, he was given a royalty check of roughly $900.00.
In the case where he self-published the book, he grossed $50,000.00 In this case, of course, he had expenses, so his net profit was less. Guessing his print cost was roughly $15,000 (or $3.00/per book in a volume print of 5000) and his marketing costs were $5000 (ad placement, internet site, posters, business cards, etc) - he still netted roughly $30,000.00.
The staggering difference between the two amounts changed his way of thinking forever.
Control: If a book is bought by a commercial publisher, they buy the rights and the right to change it. When self-published, the control remains with the author.
Time: Most authors don't last through the months of submissions, rejections and sending the queries back out again. They get discouraged and believe that their project is no good because they get rejected. First, of all, nothing could be further from the truth - but I will address that another time. If the work is accepted, according to most publishing firms, it takes between 12-24 months for an accepted manuscript to make it onto the store shelves. The publishers have calendars and print jobs already in the queue. Let alone the fact that they need to review and possibly change the manuscript to get it into their format. Self-publishing allows the author to set the timeline. It won't take several years to get the book into print. It will take however long the hired printer takes to produce it. Usually, just a few weeks.
Love: The book is a baby to its author, an addition to the family. No one loves it the way the author does, so to let it out where it can be changed, or taken away for literally years, is hard to accept. The author wants the book close enough to touch. Self-publishing allows the author to keep the work close and safe.
This is one of the reasons that authors chose to self-publish. It isn't because publishers won't ever pick it up - it is because of the love they have for their own creation.
That is why I learned how to self-publish and how my first novel Angel On Board became a dream come true.
I became a publisher when my fellow authors saw the way I did it and they asked me to help them do the same. I became the publisher I wished I could have found.
Some people call self-publishing, vanity publishing, but this author and I call it Profitable Publishing!
Slush pile / Transium:
These are unsolicited manuscripts that are sent to publishers by the millions every year. The are usually sent back unread, with a letter of rejection, stating that it 'doesn't fit their requirements.'
Unsolicited Manuscript:
When choosing publishers to submit your work to, don't bother to send them your manuscript if they are listed and clearly state: "Does not accept unsolicited manuscripts." This means that they will return unread any manuscript or portion thereof sent to them.
MISCONCEPTION: Most people are taught that this means these publishers will only work with literary agents who submit the manuscripts for you, however, if you just write the publisher a query letter and they respond back to you that they want to see your submission, you have just gotten around the 'unsolicited manuscript' problem.
Simultaneous Submission:
A term used by publishers stating that they accept the fact that you are submitting your book project to multiple publishers at one time. Be sure and state in your query letter if you are simultaneously submitting manuscripts.
Submission Guidelines: Follow THEIR directions!!!
Each publisher has their own set of submission guidelines and they are a test to see if you can follow directions. If you deviate from their guidelines, your book will probably be summarily discharged without anyone ever looking at the content.
You may feel that you and your book are special enough to break their rules, but they receive so many books, they do not even look at the content unless their guidelines have been met. Letters pleading with them to 'just look' or 'just give it a chance' will be ignored.
Slush piles have grown over the last few years, with the advent of computers and mail merge software. Simultaneous submissions are allowed by most publishers. However, because it is so easy to send out multiple submissions, everyone is doing it and publisher's slush piles have grown by the same incredible factor.
If your submission is formatted correctly on a 8 x 11 page, double spaced with the appropriate margins, you have approximately the first 16 lines of your manuscript showing on the first page. Most people going through slush piles will only read that far. Make it great!
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First-Time Author's Curse:
Is there such a thing?
Actually, yes there is! It is called: inexperience.
First-Time Authors just don't know what they don't know... The publishing industry is complicated and seems daunting to authors approaching it for the first time. It seems daunting and complicated to those who have been in it for a while. And just like any other industry, experience in the field unlocks most of its secrets.
Publishing is changing and evolving - even as you read this, new technologies are emerging and improvements to existing technologies are being developed. There are just so many options. You want to find the right one for you in this sea of choices, and that is what this book is intended to do.
One significant reason many publishers hesitate to work with first-time authors is that their learning curve is HUGE. To train up an author on the terminology, expectations, requirements and nuances of publishing takes a great deal of effort.
For most, it isn't worth it for someone who only has one book. This is why publishers look for authors with the potential for several books and why someone with a previously published book is a more attractive prospect. They've already been through Publishing 101! This is the main reason for the "Options" clause in the publishing contract.
Having been a First-Time Author myself, with Angel On Board, I learned the publishing business the hard way. I learned mostly from my own mistakes. Then I started getting anecdotal advice from other authors who were further ahead of me on the publishing journey. Because everyone's experiences were vastly different, it was hard to get a handle on the real fundamental, core elements that were required to make reasonable publishing decisions.
The first publishing truth I found was that an author's job is the same no matter who publishes them. The author's job is to promote their book. This is as basic as it comes. There may be other people on their team doing it too, but book promotion, for the author never ends!
When I became a publisher and started to work primarily with First Time Authors, I realized that my experience was reasonably typical. Either the author was developing their book in a vacuum, trying to figure all of this out on their own, or they were asking other authors for advice. Authors who had already - made it - were just analyzing their experience and trying to apply their situation to someone else's and that just doesn't work - not in this business.
The second publishing truth I found was that each book was as individual as its author - even more so. Each book's objective is unique and each author's position is unique. Trying to find a one-size-fits-all path down the publishing road is impossible.
So, it became my purpose, as a publisher, to educate authors on the publisher's perspective. This enables them to position themselves appropriately to accomplish what they set out to do - get their book out there.
