Realistic Book Publishing Information

If I want to learn about publishing, I want to turn to an expert. Amy Collins has been in book marketing and distribution for over 20 years. She started her career as a book buyer in 1996. I found THE WRITE WAY to be loaded with insights. Read this book with your yellow highlighter and be prepared to use it often.


In the introduction, Collins writes, “As a writer on the verge of publishing, you are enthusiastic about your work and determined to see it through to book form. While these are certainly helpful qualities in battling the challenges ahead, there is one tool to help you overcome the obstacles and push forward during the final stretch: That one key tool is knowledge.” (Page 6) This title is packed with such knowledge. 

Whether you want to produce an excellent book, sell it to bookstores or simply sell many copies (broad distribution), then you need this information. 

As an example of the insider information, Collins writes, “Here are some sobering statistics from Nielsen Bookscan, a company that tracks the sales of more than 6 million books in the United States:
• Each year, only two to five books sell more than a million copies each.
• Less than 1 percent of the books published this year sold more than 500 copies. That’s it.
• This year, major TV stars went on daytime talk shows, hawked their wares, showed up on NPR and still sold less than a few thousand books. The vast majority of  books published by major publishing houses lose money. Far more books published by small presses lose money. More than 80 percent of books published lose money. This isn’t meant to make you change your mind or discourage you in any way. I just want you to get a grasp on the book industry and realize how unpredictable it can be. Knowledge is power, remember? The more realistic your goals, the better able you will be to achieve those goals. Besides, once you have invested in this project, you are going to be looking for results. If your goals are in line with a realistic idea of success, then you are going to be much happier with yourself and your accomplishments.” (Page 50-51)

From reading stacks of books on publishing and writing, you never find this type of realistic information in a book. Never. Collins includes timetables about what authors need to do when to make an excellent book then push it into the market.There is specific contact information for authors (even if they self-publish, to explore distribution and marketing channels for their book.

Whether you are working on your first book or you have written many books, you will gain important information in THE WRITE WAY. I highly recommend this book.

Let me know if you've found realistic publishing information like this book in the comments below.

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