The hard times have hit the book trade. In the last couple
of weeks, many publishers have announced staff cutbacks, and one even stopped
considering new book proposals for the time being. All eyes are on the December
sales figures to see whether books will keep their status as a good Christmas
present. If you are planning to submit your book proposal in 2009, should you despair?
Well, while it’s not time to crack open the champagne, neither is it time to slash your wrists. The fact is that people are still buying books, but you will have to do some things to make it more likely that they will buy YOUR book--and, unless you are self-publishing, you’ll have to convince a publisher that your book is more likely to sell than the others for which they’re receiving proposals.
Here are three things you’ll need to do:
- Educate yourself about what’s selling and who is publishing what. I’m not talking about trying to copy a fad, but rather noticing general trends and seeing whether there is a way that your book can fit into them—or offer a contrarian viewpoint. In the UK, thebookseller.com is a good source of information, in the US it’s Publishersweekly.com.
- Do something (even more) different. Something about your book will have to differentiate it strongly. This could be the topic, the style, the format, your unique qualifications, or something else.
- Be prepared to market, market, market! Be sure that a very strong marketing plan is part of your proposal, because I guarantee that publishers will be giving more weight to what you, the author, will do to ensure that the book is noticed. (See my book of case studies, "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books.)
Sometime this Spring I’ll be teaching a workshop in London called “Writing Where the Money Is.” If you subscribe to my Brainstorm e-bulletin (just send a request to [email protected]) you’ll be the first to find out the exact date and location. After that, I may be offering it as a teleconference & workbook combination for people who can’t make it to the live workshop.
(You’ll find a lot more useful information in my book,
Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey, and the associated website,
www.yourwritingcoach.com)