Daily Excerpt: Publishing for Smarties: Finding a Publisher (Ham) - Introduction

 

The following excerpt comes from Practices That Work (Thomas Garza).

Introduction

Are you a new or future author? Confused by all the choices in the publishing business? Afraid of being ripped off? (It happens all too frequently!) Not sure how to take the first step? Not even sure how you want your “offspring” (i.e. your manuscript) to be birthed (i.e. published)? This book is meant for you. It is not another 500-page reference book about a little bit of everything associated with publishing. There are enough books like that; one more is not needed. That said, however, you should certainly add several of those to your resource collection. At the very least, you should read Writer’s Market and subscribe to Writer’s Digest. (Google both; you will find them. Writer’s Market is also available at most public libraries.)

This book, unlike most of the books out there on publishing, looks at publishing from the combined point of need of the new author and point of view of the publisher. For new authors, the complexity of the industry is not made easier by large tomes but by simplification of the process and by clear comparisons of the choices available. This book seeks to simplify the process of seeking a publisher, to make the big picture smaller. That is, after all, what smart people do: they simplifythe complex. (Complexification is almost always easier and requires a less astute approach than simplification.)

The information in this book comes from personal experience at all phases of publication: the new author, the experienced author, the publisher, the marketer, the editor, the copyeditor, and the college professor of a course on writing for publication. It also comes from first-hand experience with large presses, small presses, university presses, hybrid publishing, and self-publishing. This book will help you get the inside scoop. Learn how to choose your publisher wisely, how to write with the right publisher and audience in mind, and how to interest a publisher in your book.

Although this book was written to accompany a workshop on this same topic, the book can be used alone by new and emerging authors. It might also contain information not necessarily known to previously published authors, especially if they have gone the route of self-publishing. The activities and questions that are posed after each section are meant to lead the reader through the same kinds of activities that are in the workshop.

The answers to the questions will help to identify the kinds of publishing that will satisfy the author looking for a publisher. The matter is much more complicated than just picking names of publishers from a list. A good experience in publishing requires the development of a good relationship between author and publisher, and that is highly dependent upon finding the right publisher in the first place.

The purpose of the activities and of the book itself is to help the author find, first, the right kind of publisher and, second, the right publisher. The focus is on the word, right. This book does not intend to replace the myriad books available that are essentially lists of publishers and literary agents but instead will discuss when to go directly to a publisher and when to go through a literary agent, how to determine what an appropriate publisher should look like, and where to find those lists of publishers and agents.

This book and the seminar on which it is based focus on how to narrow your options to the most viable ones and how to avoid the neophyte and nearly always unsuccessful approach of disseminating a book proposal simultaneously to a large number of publishers, hoping that one will see the brilliant potential of the book. (Yes, some publishers will accept simultaneous submissions, within reason, and with foreknowledge though even then it can discourage an acquistions editor from spending a lot of time with a proposal.) It discusses the steps in the process of obtaining a contract from the right publisher, i.e. how and when an author should approach the identified publisher—and when to go to multiple publishers at the same time. In most cases, a successful approach is a highly personal one; how to create a situation where such an approach is possible is shown.

The author welcomes feedback from readers. 

Purchase the paperback at the MSI Press webstore.

For more posts about Tom and his book, click HERE.

Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter

Follow MSI Press on X, Face Book, and Instagram. 

Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC?

Check out information on how to submit a proposal.

Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book
 in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book?
Contact editor@msipress.com.

Want an author-signed copy of this book?
Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25)
and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

Want to communicate with one of our authors?
You can!
Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.