I was talking with a friend this week, and he reminded me of the importance of making incremental, steady progress toward my writing goals. He used a baseball metaphor, and talked about getting up to the plate, and hitting singles, doubles, and triples on a regular basis. He said that when I get up to bat, and learn the basics of the game, every now and then the right pitch will hang out over the plate, and I’ll have an opportunity to...
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I attended the Christian Book Sellers (CBA) convention in 2003. The event was included as part of a Christian Leaders and Speaker Seminar (CLASS) conference for writers who wanted to learn about the publishing industry. The secondary goal of the seminar was to secure an audience with publisher’s acquisition editors. I met my publisher at this event, and a year later, I experienced a milestone in my publishing journey when the UPS man...
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Getting your book in front of a traditional publisher’s editor requires mastering a document called a book proposal. A formal proposal presents an editor with essential information about your book, and does so in a concise manner. Imagine an editor’s office filled with projects, deadlines, books strewn about the floor. Each pile represents an author, book or potential project, and the editor also carries the responsibility...
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Publishing houses are like books and authors. Not every book is for every reader. Authors become recognized for the work they produce. In the same way, every publisher has a specific audience, one that is demographically unique from the publisher across town. To use Seth Godin’s buzz term, they each have a unique tribe, and publishers take their tribe very seriously. At the forefront of an editor’s acquisition decision is a question...
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Getting permission to send an editor your book proposal is a “chicken and the egg” dilemma. Most publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or proposals – unsolicited being the key word. Yet publishers print and publish books every year. They have to be talking to someone, right? So as a new author, how do you get your proposal in front of an editor? Assuming you don’t want to go to jail as a stalker because you follow an...
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