Choose A Different Path

I believe there are huge opportunities in book publishing for everyone who chooses a different path to get published. The path is filled with obstacles and nay sayers.

If you have been reading these entries, you know that I like to give the real scoop about book publishing. I agree when people say there are too many books out there. Each year the number of new books continues to increase. Just check the 300,000 number of new books in this article from Sarah Nelson, Editor at Publishers Weekly. In my earlier reading, I had seen a high number but never this high. Here's the reality check for you. Over the weekend, I was listening to my friend Susan Driscoll, president of iUniverse, in a teleseminar with Arielle Ford, give this 2004 book statistic: 90% of the new books published sold 1,000 copies or less. Now consider the other side of this statistic which means that only 10% of the new books published sold over 1,000 copies. In the last few days, Mike Hyatt has also written about this topic of too many books. Plus Mike has written the follow up article about the way Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher is selecting the books they do publish. This article points out another challenge for any author: publishers are very selective of the books they contract and publish. Increasingly publishers are depending on literary agents to locate new authors. As I've mentioned before it is often more difficult for a new author to find a good literary agent than it is to get published in the first place. I wrote at least 30 books for traditional publishers before I ever worked with a literary agent so it is not a necessity.

Yet increasingly traditional publishers are closing their doors to unagented material. And with good reason if I think about the material that comes into my agency. If you could sit on the side of the desk of an acquisitions editor or a literary agent, you would be shocked at the unprofessional pitches from well-intending authors. Like the recent nonfiction author who sent me a book proposal for a 150,000 word project. This author had a manuscript and had picked up my Book Proposals That Sell to learn how to create a book proposal. I applaud this author's commitment to learning about the business of publishing yet he was overlooking something critical which would get his material continually rejected. I'll not say never--but it is highly unlikely that any traditional publisher will take a 150,000 word nonfiction book project. Why? Because 70,000 to 80,000 words is the normal upper limit of such a book and the author missed this critical detail to rejection-proof his submission. It's like the lengthy novels that other authors pitch to me without understanding the typical word lengths (follow this link if you don't know the typical novel lengths). Without knowing it, they are asking for rejection.

To choose a different path as a writer, learn the craft of writing. Practice it with magazine articles and shorter pieces than books. Magazines reach many more people than most books (especially with the book statistic in the second paragraph of this entry). You will learn a valuable skill as you apprentice with your writing. It's something that many writers neglect in their journey to books.

Also continue to learn everything you can about the business of publishing. How do book acquisitions editors and executives make decisions about which books to publish? What factors push them over the top about a particular book? Also how do the book buyers make decisions about a particular book from a publisher? Many of these factors shift and change and you need to be reading and learning about these elements so you can figure out how to stand apart from the typical editor pitch--in a positive way for that editor. With my pitches for Whalin Literary Agency besides looking for great writing, I'm always looking for that x factor. I'm talking about the little extras that the writer adds to the proposal or pitch which will rejection-proof the materials. The factors are different for each author but I've mentioned some of the distinguishing factors repeatedly in these entries. The biggest element is that publishers are looking for authors who understand the necessity of selling and promoting books. You'd be shocked at the resistance of some authors to work with the media or work with their publisher to promote the book. The attractive authors are the ones which understand this factor and proactively work at it constantly. Yes, I understand it's tiring but if you want to write books and stand apart then it's a necessity in my view.

Another way to choose a different path as a writer is a commitment to ongoing education. This education may come through an annual investment to attend a writer's conference. I understand it costs in terms of time and money. If you can't make it to a conference or want to try something else, get a set of CDs and listen to them. Recently I've been going through Arielle Ford's Everything You Should Know series and it's excellent with incredible insight. I've been learning a tremendous amount from these audios and the printed materials. Also Mark Victor Hansen's Mega Book Marketing University tapes. I've listened to these materials several times and notice something new each time I go through them.

The Christian bookstore near my home is celebrating their grand opening. Yesterday at church I caught a few minutes with the bookseller. One author came to their store and signed books last Saturday. This author had books from a well-known Christian publisher who enthusiastically cooperated with this bookseller in discounting the books and providing extras like bookmarks for promotion. This coming Saturday, a second author is scheduled with a book from a small press in Alaska. It was the opposite experience. The publisher refused to take the bookseller's credit card or handle the books in the expected manner. This retailer was forced to open a paypal account to pay for the books to ensure books would be in the store for the signing. Oh, and for extras like bookmarks? The second small press emailed a PDF file with a color bookmark and the retailer could print their own for the signing. I have no idea about the details of this small press (even the name) but let me suggest the author should be helping this bookseller because the experience is making a lasting (and negative) impression on this new bookseller. I applauded the retailer's energy to pour into this book signing and the unusual steps she was taking yet at the same time I felt the author should have been touching base to ease this situation. It's a mini-example of what's happening all of the time within the bookselling community. Then authors wonder why retailers are resistant to their books?

You can choose a different path as a writer. It's admittedly a bit narrow and at times lonely and ground breaking--but definitely available to you.

The Missing Puzzle Piece

The July 30th issue of Publishers Weekly is the most recent printed issue that I've received. Living in the West, it normally doesn't arrive until late in the week. This particular issue had a fascinating short article which ranked the top 20 bestsellers from January to June 2007 called "It’s 'The Secret' By a Long Shot" Normally the bestseller lists and rankings are separated according to the type of product such as fiction, nonfiction, hardcover, trade paperback, or mass market (I didn't list all of the categories but gave you an idea of them). This list combines all of the various products and ranks the top 20 bestselling products from any category. The title for the article comes from the fact The Secret book and audio are both on this list of bestsellers.

One of the things to spot is something which is not there. It's true when you proofread your manuscript and it's true when you read publications -- whether articles in the newspaper or magazines or books. It's part of your challenge as a reader to pick up on what is missing as well as what is actually there. I see it as actually processing the information instead of simply absorbing everything like a sponge.

One of the elements which bothered me about this list is the lack of any Christian product. First you have to understand these numbers come from Nielsen BookScan which measures the actual sales from the general marketplace. A number of Christian authors have some substantial sales--yet not all of their sales are reported in Nielsen BookScan. Why?

I returned to an article which Mike Hyatt wrote in late December about the inaccuracy of bestseller lists. I'm encouraging you to read the entire article along with the sequel article from Mike. For the purposes of this post, I want to quote a couple of paragraphs from his excellent information for you:

"The best solution of all would be for Nielsen’s BookScan to collect data from Christian bookstores. It already collects data from 6,500 general market bookstores and other retail outlets, including Target, K-Mart, and Costco. (It apparently does not collect data from Wal-Mart or Sam’s.) It is also based on point-of-sale data, so the data is thus more reliable. It reflects what customers are actually buying. The sad fact is that Nielsen can't get Christian bookstores to participate. They don't want to share their data. They are afraid that general market booksellers and mass market outlets will use this data to gain a competitive advantage. In my humble opinion, this is nonsense."

"For starters, competitors to Christian bookstores already have access to Christian bestsellers lists. This data is published monthly by the two major trade magazines and is readily available on the Web (see previous links). In addition, all the major Christian publishers call on the general bookstores and the mass market outlets. In the ordinary course of business, they tell these accounts which of their particular books are selling best. So, these competitors have access to all the data they need. Because Christian bookstores refuse to cooperate with Nielsen they either intentionally or unintentionally reduce the visibility of Christian products on the major bestsellers lists. Because sales through Christian bookstores can't be counted, many books never hit the list that are, in fact, probably outselling those on the list! (Just to give you an example, in the last 12 months, we have had over 100 of our books at Thomas Nelson sell more than 100,000 copies. You can make it onto the list, depending on the velocity and the season, with as few as 20,000 books sold.) As a result, people who might be interested in Christian books, never get the opportunity to discover those books, because--to be blunt--Christian booksellers are "hiding their light under a bushel."

"In addition, the larger Christian publishers, in an effort to drive the bestseller lists, tend to send their authors to general market bookstores, because they know that they report to the various bestsellers lists. If Christian bookstores reported to these lists, particularly Nielsen, then it wouldn't matter to most of us if the author signs books at a Christian bookstore or a general market bookstore. Both would get reported. But Christian booksellers aren’t giving us that choice. As a result, everyone loses, especially the would-be Christian book consumer who doesn't get the opportunity to discover books that are, essentially, invisible."

OK, these three paragraphs from Mike Hyatt explain the missing puzzle piece in the bestsellers. My encouragement is to read deeply but also think deeply about the material that crosses your screen or your desk or your mailbox.

Jott A Note To Yourself

Last weekend I was in the John Wayne airport waiting for my flight home from the Southern California Writers Association. The airport gift shop included some items celebrating 100 years of John Wayne. I almost purchased something that I didn't need--another coffee mug. Why?

I loved the saying on the inside of the coffee cup. In fact, I pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote it down: "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway." I suspect each one of us face situations where we are scared to death and summon the courage to saddle up anyway and move ahead. It was a line worth remembering--even if I didn't purchase the mug.

I wrote down this saying using the tried and true method of pen and paper. Because my script is difficult to read, I usually print the words--and depending on the care I take when I do it, even those words are a challenge to read sometimes.

With a tip of the hat to Mike Hyatt's excellent blog, I've learned a new method to jott these notes or memos and have them magically appear in my in box without cost. He wrote about a service called Jott.com.

The registration is simple. You confirm your email where you want the note to be sent. You also confirm your cell phone number and say where you want the note to go or "me." I've tried it several times and the transcription is accurate and comes within about 15 minutes of the recording. It's perfect for many different applications--and it’s free. Jott.com provides a number of ways to use the service.

The Necessity: Ask The Right Question

I've watched writers over the years and know they are a creative bunch. The majority of them have some idea for a magazine article or a novel or a book, sit down and crank it out. Often they invest hours in the writing process and when it's completed, they turn and try to sell that manuscript to a magazine editor or a book publisher.

Because there are literally millions of these ideas, queries, book proposals and manuscripts in the jammed pipeline, the writer waits forever for a response from some editor or literary agent. They burn a path to their mailbox or their email box looking for some response. And often when that response comes, it's a rejection. That's when the self-doubts set in for the writer.

It's like the old chicken joke which has been around forever. What came first the chicken or the egg? Where in the creation process of the writing do you begin and write something that fills a need in the market? There are three large elements with this process: Messenger, Delivery System and Market. The majority of people believe they are the messenger, the book is the delivery system and they are trying to reach the market. It's a long-shot way of touching that market in my view because not enough research has been put into discovering the need of the market.

Yesterday I was fascinated with this transparent post from Thomas Nelson President and CEO Mike Hyatt. While the writer invests vast amounts of time and creative energy in their idea, the publisher has the real "skin in the game" (as some people would say) or financial investment. The publisher has created a product and most of that creation is based on their experience and some "gut" reaction. Mike makes a case for the publisher to do more research before they produce the product. I want to take this idea a bit further and encourage the writer to survey the marketplace before they write another book proposal or another query letter.

How do you survey your market? I'd suggest you use a tool called the Ask Database. Behind the scenes, I'm using this Ask Database to compile the questions and data for my free teleseminar next week (and other teleseminars that are in the planning stages). I hope you’ve asked your question about book proposals or the publishing process because I'm eager to gather your input. Each writer should be building a list of people they can survey. It's their market and they should be connecting with their readers to find out what they want--then write something that fills a need in that audience. You communicate to your audience on a regular basis through a newsletter like my FREE Right Writing News.

This process of asking the right question and meeting a market need is more important than ever for every writer. Why? We’ve been saying there were 170,000 new books published last year--and a very small percentage (something like less than 500 book titles sold over 5,000 copies--I've heard this statistic but can't lay my hands on it--so I'm hedging) actually sold. Here's the frightening detail: R. R. Bowker who compiles the statistics have reworked their method to compile the numbers. Now they estimate that over 290,000 books were published last year--a 120,000 jump from their previously published number of 170,000.

Whether the number was 170,000 or over 290,000, it's a huge number of new books--and many of those titles are entering the market but not selling. I return to my key point in this entry: Are you asking the right question and what are you doing to get your answers?