A Publisher's Conversations with Authors: How to Impress Acquisitions Editors

photo by Frank Perez

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic is about how you get an acquisition editor to consider your proposal serious. Most have only a few minutes to look at each cover letter/proposal. Will yours get more than a curosry glance? 

So, let's look at each item in an authorial contact.

The proposal

• If a publisher has guidelines for the proposal, follow them. Don't assume you know better than the publisher what the publisher needs or should publish. Our submission guidelines are at our website. 
• All the categories are important to us (and to any publisher who provides guidelines). If some are missing, we will ask the author to provide us with the missing information. The guidelines can give you insight into what a publisher considers important. 
• If you cannot adequately provide competitive information within each of the categories, this might be the wrong publisher for you or, reflecting honestly upon your proposal, you and your book may not be ready; in that case, wait, prepare, and then propose.
• Provide evidence that the book really does have a market -- not there are a billion women in the world so my book on issues to about women has a billion possible purchasers. Rather, identify the niche, what the purchasing stats are for that niche, how saturated the niche is, and where there is a gap that you can fill. 
• If you have published other books on related topics that have sold well, that is a good predictor for your new book (unless your new book is in a different genre). 
• If this is your first book,then having an actively interactive blog or being a columnist for a newspaper on your topic will help. How can you help the puoblisher sell your book is a key question.
• Describe your platform. 
• Don't have one? Get moving! Most publishers will not touch you if you do not have any way to help sell your own book. 
• Here are some of our posts that touch on platforms -- and we will soon have a post exclusively on this topic.
• Keep your ego out of it. We have turned down books because authors think their story is going to be made in a movie because their life is just so interesting that everyone will want to know about it. 
• Memoirs of rather unknown people do not sell well, so the story line must be exceptional in some way. Just becuase you think your story is exception does not mean authors, especially publishers, are going to think so. 
• Try it out -- not with friends but with book clubs, writing groups, and others who can give you unbiased and critical feedback. Take it!
• Make sure your proposal is well organized and well written. Your ability to provide a well written and well organized book will be judged by your proposal.
• Do you research. 
• Make sure you know all the other books in your genre/category. Read the ones most like your book so you can be explicit; don't go with an online description. 
• How do these books fare? How might yours fare better and why? 
• Show that you have done research for the content in your book--so much that you can be considered an expert.
• Have someone with editing experience look at your proposal. It needs to be in just as good a shape as you promise your book will be. 
• Is it coherent? 
• Is it concise but comprehensive? 
• Does it successfully make the case that your book is needed and that you are the right person to write it.
• Is it grammatically well written.

The cover letter

• The cover letter should be concise -- not more than one page. Point to further elucidation in the proposal.
• The cover letter should draw the publisher into reading it right from the first word and keep the publisher trained on your words until the end.
• Use active verbs,
• Start with a hook.  
• "Talk" to the editor.
• The cover letter should be directed to the specific edutor, not come across as a form letter. This can be trick with simultaneous submission. In those cases, you really should write separate cover letters and send separate enotes. Here are some suggestions for handling simultaneous submissions and a discussion of whether you should use this approach.
• As with the proposal, stow the ego.
• Stow the bidding war --- I have a dozen other publishers already lined up. When I get those, they go into the round file. I do not have time or stamina to enter into a bidding war when I have other manuscripts to choose from.
• Stow the hype -- one of the strongest turn-offs for an acquisitions editor is hyperbole. Be aware that editors do know their fields, and they are likekly to check out any claims you make.
• As with the proposal, the cover letter should be well written. If you need to, have a copyedit take a look at it first.

The e-note

• Start with a hook.
• Keep it short: you have a cover letter and proposal for all the details.
• Use a humble but confident tone. Keep in mind that you need to satisfy an editor's needs, not the other way around.

Want to read more on this topic? Check out what Jane Friedman has to say HERE.

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: If you want a contract with a publisher, give the publisher what the publisher says the publisher wants.
Publishers know what they need and want. They know what they can usually sell and cannot. Follow their guidelines because those guidlines reflect this knowledge that you do not have. (Never assume that you know better than an editor what the value of your book is to the publisher.) Hold yor ego at bay; take a humble bnut confident tone, and be honest in your assessments and self-assessment.

 

Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 17 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.