Why Follow Up Is Critical

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

No matter how you publish your book, it is a mulltiple step process where you work with others to accomplish your goals. At Morgan James Publishing, I’m working with a number of authors at different stages with their books. For example, last week I sent book contract offers to several authors. Then a few days later, I made a brief phone call to check in with these authors. For each call, I got their voicemail then left messages to see if they had additional questions. If they don’t have any questions, I encouraged them to take the next step: to print their contract, sign it, date it then scan and email it back to me.

After those calls, I turned and made calls to a couple of new authors that I spoke this past week. I followed up with these authors because I'm missing some details from them which I mentioned during our conversation and in my follow up email. If I don’t get these details from the author, I can’t move forward wtih their submission to my colleagues and possibly get them a book contract offer. These follow up calls are an important part of getting the information that I need from them. With my phone calls or voicemail messages, I reminded them of the information I needed and encouraged them to send it. 

I’ve learned without my follow up, the publishing process gets stalled and does not move forward. For every writer in many different areas, followup is a critical skill. You need to learn to do it--and use the right words in your followup. If you push an editor to make a decision about your submission, this type of follow up will likely give you an answer you don't want: no (rejection). Instead when you followup on a submission (which is important to do), you want to ask if the editor received the submission or possibly needs you to resend it. This type of question shows empathy for the massive amount of submissions that pours into the email and mail for every editor and literary agent. We each get way more material to consider than can be easily processed. 

While day in and day out, I do a great deal of follow up work, there are times that I fail in this area. Several weeks ago I told you about my secret plan to promote a new Morgan James Publishing book that I brought into the company. I poured a lot of work and effort into this behind-the-scenes effort. I emailed and/or called almost 20 people, told them about the book, sent them details and asked if they wanted a print advanced copy of the book. I kept a list of these people and the dates when I contacted them. When they agreed to read and review the book, I mailed each one a copy of the print book to their home address. Here’s what I missed in this process, I did not follow up with each one to confirm the arrival of the book and that they read it and were writing a review.

A few weeks after this book launched, I checked the Amazon page and Goodreads page for my requested reviews. There were only a few reviews. It showed me again the importance of following up. While my followup failure happened weeks ago, I know I can still follow up and it is not too late. I can send those follow up reminder emails, asking for their honest review and encouraging them to do it. Followup is critical.

Throughout publishing, without follow up almost nothing happens. People are busy. People forget and have other things crowd into their lives.

It’s the same with submissions. Authors need to follow up.

It’s the same with book contracts. Editors need to follow up.

It’s the same with any sort of pitch to a podcast, a magazine, newspaper, a speaking event, etc. You have to follow up.

Don’t forget to use care in your follow up. Don’t accuse or make the person receiving your follow up to feel terrible. Your follow up is to remind them about your interaction and ask if they got it. I call these actions the gentle follow up. With each exchange in the publishing community, you are building a lasting relationship with this author or editor or professional. 

Where do you use follow up? I encourage you to tell me about those experiences. I look forward to your comments.

Tweetable:

An important skill for every writer to learn is followup. This prolific author and editor gives the details why followup is critical.  (ClickToTweet)

New Podcasts:

In these articles, I’ve encouraged you to use PodMatch or some similar tool to book and record podcasts. Last week one more new podcast recording launched:

Sheila Slick and I spoke about publishing myths no one talks about on the Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership Podcast. Listen on Apple at: https://bit.ly/4dPgxCC  or YouTube Music at: https://bit.ly/4AJsDqV

Every type of publishing has its own complexity, and many parts of the process are outside of anything that an author can control. In addition, from speaking with authors, I find many of them have unrealistic expectations about publishing. I wrote  10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. Get my decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

Subscribe to Terry’s Newsletter:

During the last year, once a week I’ve been sending a short free newsletter. Just follow this link to subscribe. When you are added to the newsletter, you will receive a FREE 87-page Ebook which is packed with insights for every writer.

Get these articles on your email: 

Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,800 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA