The Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published [Paperback]

I've been a publisher for 42 years... it is the best book I
have read about the nature of book publishing. --Leo Cooper

Before you write a book you should read this one.
--Jilly Cooper

There are plenty of books on how to write, but few until now on how to get your book published. This book, written by a publisher, also draws on her research and interviews with fellow publishers and with agents. It details every stage in the process, from writing a proposal, through finding an editor and hooking a publisher. It even covers self-publishing, understanding contracts and increasing your sales. It covers various genres including fiction, non-fiction, children's books and poetry. Rachael Stock has worked in publishing for 15 years, getting her first commissioning job at the very early age of 24. She has worked for three major publishing houses, and has commissioned books in health, lifestyle, popular psychology, personal development, sport, business and careers. Her biggest success is 'Rules of Work" the behavioural guide to success - an international best-seller published by Prentice Hall Business (part of Pearson). She's equally proud however of another Pearson publication - the charity book "Get Ahead, Give A Damn" - that raised GBP 30,000 to help those without a home or a job get back into work. Though she is now gamekeeper and poacher, Rachael previously resisted the urge to write a book, always suspecting it was easier to scribble all over other people's. She now knows it is. Contents of the book are: how books are commissioned - an insider's guide to the process of publishing; how publishers and authors make money - an insider's guide to the financial side of publishing; choosing the right publisher for you - how to find the most appropriate company to approach; agents - how to decide if you need one, finding a good one and the real truth about publishers and agents; writing a winning proposal - how to write what they want to read; sending it in and following it up - how to make your submission, guard your idea and chase it up; negotiating a contract - how to get a handle on the basics and get a good deal; working with your publisher - how to make sure it all goes smoothly after the contract is done; dealing with rejection - how to learn from the knock backs; and self publishing - how to publish your own book (with or without help).

Introduction

Do you have a burning desire to write a book? Or have you already written it and just want to know how to get it published? Is it just this one particular book you are passionate about, or do you want to become a full time writer and need guidance on what to write and who to sell it to? Whatever your situation, the quest to get into print can seem an utterly daunting one. Unless of course you have an insider to guide you.

This book reveals how publishers operate, who makes the decisions, what influences them, how you can make you and your book instantly more appealing to an agent or publisher and how to create the brilliant submission that will shine amongst the pile of tired words on a commissioning editor's desk.

It also reveals what to do if you get a rejection (or 10) and, if you can't find a publisher who wants to take your book, or you don't like any of them, then you'll discover what your other options are, from using a publishing service to complete DIY self publishing.

We're assuming that you've got the kernel of a good idea (we'll test this as far as we can along the way) and that you can write, or are willing to work with somebody who can. However, many good writers and great books go unpublished. This is about making sure you and yours aren't among them.

In the same way that many good books don't make it to the shelves, plenty of books do get published but don't sell. This book is also about doing all you can to make sure that doesn't happen. In the process of constructing a brilliant pitch, you can usually pick out areas that might be weak, and either re-evaluate the proposal or the book to deal with it. This will make the project and the book more appealing to readers as well as to publishers. We'll also look at how you can work with a publisher to maximise the chances of your book selling well once published.

What's the secret?
Getting published is more a combination of art and luck than it is science. There is no single magic formula that will absolutely guarantee you success; however there are plenty of strategies that will vastly increase your chances of getting published. That's the `art' bit and that's what this book is about.

Luck undoubtedly does play a part: the biggest hurdle in getting published is whether what you propose tickles the fancy of a single person - either an agent or an editor. And that in turn depends on that person's personal preferences, their experience, what they happen to be looking for at that time, their gut feelings and possibly even whether they got out of bed the right side that morning (if we're being really honest).
However, getting the right book, explained in the right way, in front of the right person isn't all luck - far from it. This book will show you how you make sure you do just that.

What kind of book?
Obviously, there are many different types of publisher and many styles of publishing. Not everything in this book will apply to all genres or categories, but there are a surprising number of commonalities. Different attributes are needed for a good children's book as opposed to a good history book or business book or novel.

However, the principles of how publishers work, the process of choosing and approaching a publisher or agent, and the crafting of a winning submission are pretty similar. Sometimes advice applies particularly to fiction or non-fiction, and I've tried to flag clearly where this is the case, but the best advice is that you read with a filter of `does this apply to my book?' running in your head. Discard whatever doesn't seem to apply, and just pick up on what does.

Most existing general books on getting published are biased towards fiction rather than non-fiction, yet there's a lot more to be said about how you submit non-fiction ideas (i.e. the pitch as opposed to the sample text itself). I've tried to find a balance between the two and hope I've succeeded.

So you've got an idea for a book. A brilliant idea. Maybe you've written part or all of it already. Whether it's a concept or a completed manuscript, you're probably burning with the desire to get it published. But which publisher should you approach? Do you need an agent? What do you send? What makes a proposal irresistible? And how do you convince a publisher to offer you that elusive publishing contract?

This is the book to answer to all these questions - and many more. It will reveal:
_ How publishers operate and what influences them
_ How to choose a publisher or agent
_ How to make you and your book instantly more appealing
_ How to create a brilliant submission
_ How to negotiate a good deal

Rachael Stock has combined her own extensive commissioning experience with insights from other editors, agents and authors to deliver a wealth of vital insider know-how that will give you the best possible chance of getting your book into print and onto the shelves.

Rachael Stock has worked in publishing for 15 years, getting her first commissioning job at the very early age of 24. She has worked for three major publishing houses, and has commissioned books in health, lifestyle, popular psychology, personal development, sport, business and careers. Her biggest success is Rules of Work the behavioural guide to success - an international bestseller published by Prentice Hall Business (part of Pearson). She's equally proud however of another Pearson publication - the charity book Get Ahead, Give A Damn - that raised GBP30,000 to help those without a home or a job get back into work. Though she is now gamekeeper and poacher, Rachael previously resisted the urge to write a book, always suspecting it was easier to scribble all over other people's. She now knows it is.

Chapter 1 - How books are commissioned

An insider's guide to the process of publishing

Though publishers like to distinguish themselves from other companies (witness the term `publishing house'), when it comes down to it almost all are, as you would expect, commercial enterprises. As such they are looking to make a profit. Even the University Presses make most of their decisions about what to publish on a commercial basis.

Getting your book published usually means convincing a number of people who work for the publisher that your book will make them money. This might sound like stating the obvious but you'd be surprised how many aspiring authors forget or ignore this when pitching to a publisher.

"All you publishers are obsessed about whether or not it will sell."
Would-be author to publisher, when asked if the proposed book was practical

There are of course other considerations - most, but not all, publishers want to have a list of titles that they are proud of, so quality should count too. But the bottom line is the bottom line. Which means that what you are effectively trying to do is persuade a group of people that they will be able to sell enough copies of your book to make them a healthy profit - ideally without causing them too much strain along the way.

We'll come back to how you actually do this in detail later on. It's sufficient here that you know that the decision making process is unlikely to be one person thinking that this is a rather nice idea that deserves to see the light of day. It's very likely that the hard headed senior sales people and even the bean counters have their say.

Here then are the key steps in getting a book published:
1 Your proposal arrives on the desk of the commissioning editor, either directly or via an agent.
2 The commissioning editor then either rejects the proposal, or comes back to you to discuss the book.
3 When the commissioning editor is happy, they present the book concept and costings to a group of key decision makers (here we'll call it a publishing committee - different publishers use different names).
4 The publishing committee (usually including sales people, marketing and publicity people, foreign rights people, senior management and others - even finance directors) discuss all aspects of the book and reach a conclusion as to whether or not they should take on the book for publication.
5 The commissioning editor comes back to you with either an offer of a contract or a rejection.

This is of course extremely simplified - there are lots of variables in every step and all publishers are slightly different. However, this serves as a rough guide as to how the average medium to large publisher works.