Write Nonfiction in November

I know we’ve only just hit day number six, but it’s time to get into the real nitty-gritty of nonfiction writing: the business end of book publishing. (I warned you we would!)  If you’re going to write a nonfiction book, you must be sure you have a marketable product. (This is true of articles, too, but we’re going to talk about books today.) While fiction writers also must be sure their book manuscripts have a market, they don’t have to concern themselves with such things as promotion and platform. These, however, represent the essentials of selling nonfiction books. Without them, you won’t find literary representation or sell your book to a publisher.

So, while you’re writing your nonfiction book this month (or any time), you must consider—and work upon—the business aspects of nonfiction writing. Don’t put it off. Begin immediately, if you haven’t already. (If you have started, step up whatever you are doing a notch or two.)

Randy Peyser, the owner of Author One Stop, a national publishing consulting firm, not only works with many nonfiction authors, she has contact with a variety of publishers and agents. For this reason, she has a good deal of insight into what nonfiction writers need to get their books sold to a traditional publisher. You’d be surprised to discover that they don’t just look at your manuscript. Acquisition editors are looking well beyond your wonderful words and well-crafted sentences to how easy it will be to get your book onto the shelves of major bookstores—and sold to eager readers.

Read on to hear what Randy has to say about what questions publishers are asking before they purchase a book manuscript. You’ll want to be sure to have them answered before your manuscript and book proposal come under their consideration.

When you’ve finished reading this post, crack out a book about how to write a book proposal and how to build a platform. If you don’t know much about these topics, don’t worry. Write Nonfiction in November will feature expert blog posts on these topics in upcoming days, and you can find past blog posts on these subjects in the November 2008 and 2007 archives.

The Five Biggest Questions Publishers Ask
Before They Will Buy Your Manuscript
By Randy Peyser

In this economy, the marketing departments at book publishing companies are counting every bean to see if the numbers justify the purchase of your title. Even if you find an acquisitions editor who absolutely loves your book, if the numbers don’t add up to the satisfaction of the publisher’s marketing department or the book buyer from Barnes & Noble, your book is toast.

The five biggest questions that publishers ask before they buy your manuscript are:

1. Is your topic current?
2. Is your topic differentiated from every other book that is already out there?
3. Will people be interested in this topic, and, if so, what is the size of the market?
4. How extensive is the author’s publicity platform?
5. Do the numbers add up?

Here’s how the math breaks down: Publicity = Eyeballs, and Eyeballs = Sales

Picture this scenario: The book buyer from Barnes & Noble meets with a publishing house to decide which books he is going to order for Barnes & Noble for the upcoming season. He takes out his computer and starts asking questions about each title.

What he really wants to know is: What is the size of the target market for your book and how big is your platform? The book buyer then writes the stats down for your book and compares them against every other book he is considering.

The books with the biggest numbers win.

Four Tips to Build Your Numbers

1. In the “About the Market” section of your book proposal, include real numbers (strong and clear statistical evidence) to show how large the market is for your book. For example, in addition to mentioning every legitimate market for your book, think about specific associations who would be interested in your topic and include the size of each of their national memberships in this section.
2. Contact movers and shakers who have large email lists and ask them if they would be willing to send out an email message blast to announce your book when it comes out. Find out the size of each list and include this data in the Promotion section of your book proposal.
3. Blog like crazy and include the number of your connections on Linked In, your Facebook fan page, and all other social media sites in the Promotion section of your book proposal.
4. Speak, speak, speak. Publishers want you to be in front of eyeballs way before your book comes out. Get out there and speak or teach seminars or teleclasses. Include all of this information in the Promotion section of your book proposal.

If you can prove your publicity platform, justify the market and write a book that adds something new and different, you’ve got a potential winner on your hands. So get out there and build your numbers!

About the Author

Randy Peyser owns a national publishing consulting firm called, Author One Stop. Her 10 award-winning editors includes: a book reviewer for People Magazine, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe and an editor of 20 New York Times national best sellers (including those written by Sidney Sheldon, Dan Rather, Gail Sheehy, and Margaret Truman). Services offered by Author One Stop include: editing, ghostwriting, book proposals, help finding top literary agents and publishers, self-publishing, and internet publicity.

www.AuthorOneStop.com
Randy@AuthorOneStop.com
(831) 726-3153

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I became a writer simply because I love to write.  However, as a nonfiction writer with aspirations of becoming a published book author, I’m often asked to do something other than what I love to do.  I’m asked to speak.

You see, typically these days a nonfiction writer like myself needs more than just a good idea and good writing skills to get a book published by a medium or large publishing house. To achieve this goal, I have to posses what’s called a “platform.” (No, not a wooden box or a stage to stand upon, but a speaking platform from which I can sell and promote my book as an “expert” on my topic.) Now, I could build a platform by writing lots of articles for major mass-market magazines, and for a nonfiction writer like myself that would be infinitely easier than doing so by speaking. However, speaking engagements of all types represent the best and fastest way to build an expert platform.

So, instead of staying in the pleasant solitude of my office with a candle burning and a hot mug of tea steaming on my desk as I type a melody on my computer keyboard and watch as the words in my head appear magically on the screen in front of my eyes, I have to stop doing what I love – writing. Not only do I have to stop writing, I have to take off my sweat pants and sweat shirt (which I also love), shower, get dressed up, do my hair – even put on make up, travel somewhere, stand in front of God-knows-how-many people or in front of a camera or a microphone that will beam my image or the sound of my voice to God-knows-how-many people, and then I have to speak. I don’t get to do a reading of my writing, mind you. I have to talk about the subject I’m writing about when I could be writing about it instead.

While I do love to talk – and some say I do a lot of talking, I’d really rather write. You see, when I speak I sometimes stumble over my words or say something incorrectly or don’t say what I mean. I occasionally even regret what I’ve said. And herein lies the difference between writing and speaking.  No matter how I try to correct the situation, whoever hears my incorrect, awkward, stumbled-over, or offensive words may remember them despite my correction or apology.  When I write, that isn’t the case. When I write, I may make all those same mistakes. In fact, more often than not, as I write, I do, indeed, make those same mistakes. I might use the wrong words. My sentences might not say what I mean. My phrases might be awkward. I might even regret what I wrote. However, almost without exception I get to correct those mistakes before anyone else sees them or before they affect anyone in an unintentionally negative manner.

You see, when I write, even if at first I use the wrong word, I get to find just the right word. And if I don’t find the right word the first or second time I edit my piece, I might find it the third or fourth or even the 40th time. I get to move my words around, this one here and that one there, until they all work together in a tight, strong, efficient sentence with impact. I get to decide which words stay and which words go in every phrase and in every sentence until I have paragraphs and a complete written piece. I get to think about all those words before they go out into the world for others to see. I get to choose them carefully with lots of forethought and care and with long and hard consideration for how they will be received. And I, therefore, rarely regret the written words I use.

When I write, I may find that my first draft actually doesn’t even come close to meaning what I intended it to mean. I may get way off point. I may confuse the issue. I may simply not make sense. Then, I get to rewrite, revise and edit until the essay or article or book not only carries forth my desired meaning but offers broader perspectives as well. I get to write more and better, as well as longer or shorter or differently, until what I’ve written communicates exactly what I mean – and more. To my amazement, I may even discover that I mean something in addition to what I meant originally, and that something usually comes from deep within me, from a place of knowing that I’m not sure how I access. I only know that the writing process takes me there and unlocks the door, releasing my wisdom onto the written page. At those times, when I go back and read what I’ve written I’m not even sure the words are mine, and I feel a sense of awe for the writing process itself. It seems that as I pore over each sentence and each word to ensure that it speaks my truth as clearly as possible, a miraculous thing truly happens.

As for those awkward phrases, when I write, I get to smooth them over during my editing and rewriting. I get to craft them into wonderfully-flowing groups of words that know just how to dance together gracefully and in time with the music of whatever type of piece I’m writing. I can go back again and again to read what I’ve written and to perfect it, like a dance teacher working with a protégé before a big performance (again and again and again until the deadline arrives…). I can remove a word here, move a phrase there, change a passive verb to an active one, peruse the thesaurus for a better word, and add just the perfect missing sentence. I practice until the technique is perfect, the timing just so, the feeling imbedded in the very structure of the piece. Then, I confidently send my finished piece of writing onto the stage – out for publication – knowing that it will perform just as rehearsed, like an expert dancer that not only knows the dance but has become the dance.

Now, despite all this effort on my part, someone might still feel the need to point out that I could have used a comma after that one particular phrase or really should have thought about cutting that last sentence (the one that I added because it was the perfect missing one). And they might even be correct, but after 26+ years as a professional writer I’m used to those types of corrections, and I don’t often get too flustered, bothered or feel regret about what I’ve written after my work has been published. And honestly, I prefer wondering if I should have made those editorial changes or if anyone noticed the need for a comma in my last published piece over lying in bed at night after a speaking engagement and obsessively replaying the words I spoke in my head while thinking, “Oh, how I wish I hadn’t said that!”

If to accomplish my goal of getting a nonfiction book published I must leave the solitary craft I love to do something totally different than writing – to speak to large groups of people, why can’t I do it in a way that resembles what I love and what I do best? Why can’t I carefully and thoughtfully write my talks like I write my articles, essays and books? Then I could get up and read my words just as I’ve put them on paper, and I’d be a confident, well-spoken expert with that required platform. I’d remain a writer – not become a speaker, and I’d be happy to speak – well, read – whenever asked to do so. Well, maybe not whenever asked…unless, of course, they wouldn’t mind if I showed up in my sweat pants and sweat shirt with no make up.

Every wanna-be author who has dreams of being picked up and published by a traditional publishing house wants to know how to secure representation by a literary agent. Why? Because the large publishing houses won’t look at manuscripts or proposals from “unagented” writers. Some mid-sized, and most small, university, niche, and regional publishers will look at, and often welcome, unagented submissions, however.

If you dream  of having that publishing business partner called an agent, then the advice offered in this Write Nonfiction in November post by Michael Larsen, a literary agent himself and the author of How to Get a Literary Agent, will interest you. Read on and discover 11 great tips on how to find literary representation.

11 Ways to Find the Agent (or Editor) You Need

By Michael Larsen

Literary Agent and Author

Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents

Finding an agent is easier than ever. Getting one to represent your book may not be. The more challenging the book business becomes, the more careful agents have to be about the books they handle. At the same time, the more challenging the book business becomes, the more eager agents are to find writers whose books they think they can sell.

One of the many reasons why now is the best time ever to be a writer is that you have more options for getting your books published than ever. There’s a list of them at www.larsen-pomada.com. More new writers will either have to self-publish their books, if only to test-market them, or sell their books themselves. The good news is that writers sell more books than agents. Small, midsize, niche, university, and regional publishers buy most of their books from writers, and collectively, they publish far more books than the big houses that agents most want to sell to. So you can also use the list to find a publisher.

Happy hunting!

1. Referrals

The best way to get an agent’s attention is if the first two words the agent sees or hears are the name of a client, editor, agent, author, or bookseller who suggested you contact the agent. The more important the person, the more eager the agent will be to hear from you.

2. Your Networks

You need overlapping, professional, international networks online and off that will be as important to your career as writing and promoting your books: family and friends, speakers, writers, publishing people, professionals in your field, booksellers, fans, suppliers, champions, people around the country, and a promotion network

3. Writer’s Organizations

Members are part of your networks.

4. The Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR www.publishersweekly.com/aar)

5.  Directories

Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 200X; 200X Guide to Literary Agents; 200X Guide to Literary Agents: A Writer’s Guideby Adam Begley; Literary Market Place (LMP); The Writer’s Handbook.

6.  The Web

Google literary agents. Visit www.authorlink.com, www.predatorsandeditors.com, www.publisherslunch.com, www.publishersweekly.com, www.reviewsnews.com,  www.publishersmarketplace.com.  

7.  Literary events

Writing classes, readings, lectures, seminars, book signings, conferences and festivals.

8.  Magazines

Publishers Weekly, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Poets & Writers

9.  Publishers’ catalogs and websites

Libraries receive catalogs.

10.  Books

Dedications and acknowledgments in competing and complementary books.

11.  Your Platform

Give talks, maintain a website, write a blog, do an ezine, post to related sites, do podcasts, get published online or off, publicize your work and yourself, build your email list. When your continuing national visibility is great enough, agents and editors will find you.

(Adapted from How to Get a Literary Agent by Michael Larsen.)

About Michael Larsen

 Michael Larsen and his wife Elizabeth Pomada and started the Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco in 1972. They are members of the Association of Author’s Representatives and have sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers.

Mike handles general adult nonfiction that will interest New York houses and has social, esthetic, or practical value. He also handles anything that is so so needed or so beautifully written that its commercial value doesn’t matter. Elizabeth represents fiction, narrative nonfiction, and books for women. Their associate agent, Laurie McLean, handles genre fiction, and middle-grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction.

Mike is the author of How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent. Writer’s Digest will publish the fourth edition of How to Write a Book Proposalin spring 2010. With Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing; and Rick Frishman of Planned Television Arts, Mike coauthored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work

Mike and Elizabeth are co-directors of  the 6th San Francisco Writers Conference that will take place on President’s Day Weekend, February 13^th to 15^that the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. The keynoters will be bestelling authors Richard North Patterson, Jane Smiley, and Lolly Winston, www.sfwriters.org. Mike and Elizabeth are also co-directors of the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference, www.sfwritingforchange.org.

Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents

larsenpoma@aol.com / www.larsen-pomada.com

1029 Jones Street / San Francisco, California 94109

Please write or call if you have questions, 415-673-0939, larsenpoma@aol.com.

Whether you write nonfiction or fiction writer, you’ve probably dreamt of finding a literary representation – landing an agent. I know I did. While I did approach some publishers with my book proposals, more often than not I sent those very same proposals out to agents. It took me many years of sporadically searching (six or eight), but last year I finally got the good news: an agent wanted to represent me. It was my dream come true – and continues to be.

Sometimes friends would ask me why I bothered looking for an agent, especially since I’d have to give up a percentage of my hard earned money to that agent. The answer had two parts, although the second representing the real reason: 1) An agent can get my proposal into the hands of editors at large publishing houses that I can’t even approach and can get it noticed by editors in mid-sized publishing houses that I can approach but where I might otherwise go unnoticed. 2) I want a business partner – someone who will help me build my career, support me in my endeavors, direct me down the right path when I’m not sure which way to turn, make sure my interests are protected, and be there to celebrate with me when I succeed because that success will be partially their own as well.

I love having an agent, and actually I have benefited by being with a very small agency run by a husband and wife team, because I seem to have gotten two agents for the “price” of one. Although I don’t have constant contact with them, I know they are there when I have questions, and I love knowing that they represent me and are sending out my work. (Well, at the moment they aren’t sending out my work, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) I feel they represent “me,” not just my work, and that they believe in me as a writer and as a person. I couldn’t ask for more.

Now, I’m writing this blog today to dispel a misconception about having an agent. Having an agent does not mean that your work will sell. It does not mean you will definitely get a publishing contract for your book or a large advance. I say this, because, like a lot of writers, I lived in a dream world for a while where I imagined that having an agent meant these things would happen.

It’s not wonder I did, though. I went from having no agents in 2006 to briefly having three agents in 2007. Yes, three. I was signed by the first agent in March. Just before the Book Expo America (BEA), I was signed by a second agent for a project my first agent did not want to represent; it was not something in her area of expertise and she wasn’t excited about it. In addition, I had another book project I was excited about, and the first agent agreed to have an agent in her firm represent me and the project at the BEA as well. I’m proud to say, therefore, that I had three agents representing me and my three projects at the BEA this year.

You’d think with three agents — really good agents with great track records — I’d have sold a book, right? Wrong.

All three projects currently are sitting on my desk waiting for me to peddle them. Well, one of them is waiting for proposal and first-two-chapters rewrite so I can then send it off to a different agent (one that handles young adult books, which my agents does not). Another is being considered by a publishing house after I sent it there myself. And the third is waiting for me to complete a proposal update and my Write Nonfiction in November project, which is something I want to enclose in the proposal package, so I can begin sending it out to small publishing houses. In other words, all my projects came home to me despite representation by a literary agent.

Now, I’m not saying agents are worthless. I’m just saying, don’t think that just because you have an agent, you will sell a book. You have to have a book idea and proposal worth selling. And you have to find the right publisher. Remember that agents most often only peddle proposals to medium to large publishing houses, because the advances from these are large enough to make it worth their while financially. Agents make their living off of the percentage they get when they sell a book (and later off a percentage of royalties – if there are any). That’s how it works. Just because these particular publishing house say “no” to your book project, however, does not mean that some other smaller publisher will feel the same way. Some really successful books have started out with smaller publishing houses (or self-published) and later when they became best-sellers the big publishing houses came along and purchased the rights to publish them.

Despite my projects coming home to me, I’m still happy to have my agents. They are just about to sit down with me and discuss my other projects and ideas, where I’m going and how they can help me get there. We’re going to evaluate how much time I need to take promoting one of my book projects before they can begin talking about it to editors at publishing houses. We’re going to take a look at what I’ve been doing to develop a platform and what else I can do to make myself more attractive to publishers. I wouldn’t be able to have these conversations with these knowledgeable, experienced and respected publishing professionals if they weren’t my agents. They see my future better than I can, and they have a better idea of what I need to do to make that future a present reality.

I highly recommend holding on to your dream of finding an agent. Just make sure your dream is an accurate one, and then make it come true with hard work, perseverance and, above all else, good ideas and good writing.