A Publisher's Conversation with Authors -- and a Plea: Authors, Do Not Waste Your Precious Time

 

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 popped up because I received three book proposals that were very easy and quick to turn down. Although perhaps some editors might not have responded at all, I do like to get back to authors who submit proposals. Often, if a book is almost viable, just needs some tweaking, I might give some suggestions for improvement. (Not all authors take these suggestions kindly, but in those cases, I consider nasty responses evidence that I made the right decision in rejecting the manuscript; I would not want to work with such an author.)

In today's cases, I was presented with proposals for novels. That is an easy, objective response: "We do not publish fiction." What a waste of an author's time (and my time, too, though it does not take much of my time to send that simple response). If I have time, I send that note. If not, I push the delete button. If the author could not take the time to at least read our website before sending a proposal, I do not need to take the time to respond to the proposal.

Why would anyone send a novel to a non-fiction publisher? It seems like that is a no-brainer: don't do it. Here are the reasons I think some authors do this:

• They do not do their homework. They get information about the press from somewhere, perhaps a book they are reading or a Google search for "publishers" -- and off they go. They just don't have the time to check out every possible publisher that might be interested in their book (and, often, they are pretty convinced that every published should be interested in their book). They have just spent time preparing a proposal and sending it. Every minute counts in searching for a publisher. Every wrong-publisher contact means that a right-publisher is not being contacted. If the author mails the proposal (and I did get one in the mail today), then not only has the author wasted his/her time, s/he has also wasted money.
• Very similar to not doing their homework, authors may be sending out one proposal to a zillion publishers. This is known as multiple submissions, and it is acceptable to many, but not all, publishers. In such cases, it may not seem to matter whether or not a wrong-publisher is reached, but generic proposals in general do not entice publishers to consider seriously taking on a book. So, all the submissions may be rejected because the proposal is not targeted to any of them.
• Much more rare, but it does occur, is the situation in which an author thinks his/her book is so good that a publisher will take on a new line, just for that book. While that does sometimes happen, it is very, very rare and not really worth the author's just-in-case time. Do the research and tailor your proposal, then you don't have to rely on a miracle to move a publisher into expanding the lines to accommodate your book. The biggest obstacle for a publisher in opening a new line is that the publisher has no marketing set up for that line.

Okay, so just reaching out to a list of publishers is time-consuming and a waste of time. What is an author to do?

• The most important thing, period, is to do your research. Send your proposal only to those publishers that publish in your niche. Get a list of publishers in your niche from Literary Market Place or Writer's Market. Both are expensive, but both should be at your local library.
• Read the publisher's website. See what the publisher releases. Take a look at some of those books. Yes, it sounds like more time and more money, but in the long run, it is not. You will be tailoring your outreach to where you have a real chance of having your book accepted.
• Once you are on the publisher's website, go a step further. Look at exactly what the publisher wants in a proposal. Take the time to write an individualized proposal. You may not get a contract, but you will have a much better chance of getting one.  

The bottom line is that you have a limited amount of time. You should spend it in ways that are more likely to be effective for you, i.e. land you a contract sooner rather than later.  

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Do your research. Look for and approach only the right publishers for you.

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 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

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