A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Anatomy of a Successful Book (Commissioned Book)



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

Continuing with the samples of successful books, in this blog post I am including information of a book in the self-help genre; The Widower's Guide to a New Life by Joanna Romer. The book was recommended by US Review of Books and was selected as a finalist for the Book of the Year Award.

  • How the book came into being:
    • As editor, I proposed the book because I saw a market for it.
    • I proposed the book to Joanna because she had written a similar book for Widows, which had sold well.
    • I knew that Joanna had the writing and research skills to pull off a good book on this topic.
  • Why the book sold:
    • It filled a gap -- most of the books in inpatient hospice care facilities were about widows, not widowers. In fact, I never saw one for widowers.
    • The content was excellent, well researched, and not available elsewhere (that gap, again).
    • It had received a prominent award, but awards alone are not enough.
    • It was a companion to another award-winning book that preceded it (the adage that buyers buy books from authors they have already read and liked).
    • It was easily companioned with another book, making both books a good shelf acquisition by specialty libraries (filling for them that gap I had noticed).

  • Some unique promotional aspects of this book:
    • Many word-of-mouth sales were made by readers and by specialty stores and institutions who heard about the second book after having earlier bought the first book.
    • Efforts were made to sell the book to specialty organizations on consignment.
    • The author was highly involved in print media – a recognized writer and writing teacher.
  •   Lessons learned:
    • Filling a gap in the literature on a particular topic provides an automatic sales source. Finding that gap requires good research to know where the gaps are. (In this case, I happened to recognize the gap, but authors can find them just as easily.)
    • Selling books on consignment to specialty stores is a very viable source of sales.

The bottom line is that if you can find a gap in the literature of the field in which you write (in this case, it was self-help: bereavement), you will have the interest of an editor/publisher. Publishers know that books that fill gaps sell.

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Do you research. Know your field. Find the gaps. Propose the book!

 

Read more posts about publishing HERE.


Publishing for Smarties: How to Find a Publisher is available from MSI Press LLC; discount of 25% with coupon code FF25; currently on sale for $5, but that offer will not last forever).



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