The Cost of Publishing

     

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

It is a common question I get from writers, “Does your publishing program have a financial cost?” The answer is not simple and the reality is every type of publishing costs--even self-publishing. Thousands of new books are published every day through the Amazon Kindle program. The costs can be minimal but then you have to reach your audience and sell the book. I often say that making books is easy but selling books is a completely different story.

As an author, you will have to weigh the cost for your path. I’ve met authors who have paid over $10,000 to self-publish. By the time, they hired an editor, a cover designer, a layout designer the pages, it cost to get their book into the market. As this friend who spent $10,000 told me, when he looked back, he wished he had gone with Morgan James Publishing because then his book would be in bookstores and not just on Amazon but over 1,800 online bookstores. If you go the traditional route, you will need to create a book proposal and possibly find a literary agent (unless you meet a publisher at a writer’s conference). 

Even if you traditional publish, you will need to spend time marketing and reaching your audience. Whether your publisher gives you this information or not, understand the majority of the marketing (80%) will be up to you.

As you make your choice about the publishing path, I encourage you to get advice and help from others but be aware that advice could cost you. Recently an author emailed me who had three independent publishing contract offers and wanted my help in a phone call. I responded and was willing to help--but not for free. 

Admittedly I have a lot of free online information through my blog, free ebooks, my newsletters and other places. Yet when you are looking for my specific help for your contracts or publishing advice, I encourage you to expect to pay something for that help. From my decades in this business, the cost is minimal for the savings and value you will receive.

I compare such a request to having a friend who is a physician and you’ve gotten ill and need a prescription, you would not expect this friend to help without charging. Why would you expect it for a publishing question? Yet this author wrote me assuming I would call her, freely giving my counsel without charge. It is not a realistic expectation. Even if you publish with an independent publisher like Morgan James Publishing, it will cost you.

The road isn’t easy but success and selling books is possible on any of these paths. The exploration process costs nothing other than your time. What process do you use to count the cost of publishing? Let me know in the comments below. 

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According to this prolific writer and editor, every type of publishing will cost. How do you consider the cost of publishing? Get the details in this article. (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

The Value of Contract Negotiations

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

If an editor sends you a contract for your book, you should celebrate. As someone who has been in publishing for years, I know it is a huge success to receive a contract. 

As an acquisitions editor, I have been involved in hundreds of contracts during my over ten years at Morgan James Publishing. I’ve also worked at two other publishers in this area and I’ve witnessed and been involved in my own contract negotiations through publishing over 60 books with traditional publishers. 

It may surprise you but many people don’t do any negotiation. They sign the document and return it. It is important to negotiate with the right attitude. The basic principle is to tell the other party upfront, you are negotiating in good faith and do not want to do or say anything that will kill (or stop) the deal.

Recently an author told me a literary consultant was giving her contract advice. I received over three pages of wording suggestions and this author believed she was negotiating to send them to me. To be fair, some of the suggestions could possibly go through and be accepted. Several of the suggestions were “deal killers.” When there is a deal killer, the publisher will stop the negotiation and walk away from it. As I read through the suggested changes, I knew this author needed some of my assistance. If she was willing to remove the deal killers then I suspected a number of the suggested changes could be accepted and incorporated into her contract. 

The publisher and the author have devoted a considerable amount of time and energy into the decision making process to even issue a contract. If the deal is killed at this point, the author returns to searching for a publisher and the publisher simply moves on to the next book. While it is more work for me as an acquisitons editor, I hope we can resolve the differences and still negotiate this contract. The balancing act in this process is tricky. As of this writing, I’m unsure how it will work out for this author.

Recently editor and author Jane Friedman wrote about The Business Skill I Wish I Could Grant To All Writers. The skill is negotiation. One of the surprising details in this article: “Not even the majority of agents negotiated the contract as well as they should have, because they were so advance focused. I wish I could say that your agent will definitely negotiate all the finer deal points, but that’s not the case in my experience. So even if you do have an agent, you should be asking them questions, too.” Most writers feel if they have an agent, then they will be well-represented in the area of negotiation. Like Jane, I have worked with a number of agents who don’t do much negotiation on the contracts for their authors. 

My point is even if you have someone else negotiating for you on a book contract, you should still take the time and energy to understand the proposed changed and what is going on. Why? Because when the contract is signed, it is not the agent or literary attorney whose name is at the bottom of the contract and ultimately responsible for the contract. That responsible person is you, the author.

I have a couple of contract resources on my Right-Writing site to help you with understanding your contract and the negotiations. First Publishing Contract Checklist by attorney Timothy Perrin (scroll down to read this excellent article--I have an unresolved formatting issue). Also I encourage you to read Five Magic Phrases: Tips for Negotiating Like a Pro by Jenna Glatzer. Each of these resources will give you additional information and help you become a better negotiator.

Do you negotiate your contracts or do you give that responsibility to someone else like an agent? Let me know in the comments below. 

My Articles in Other Places

In these entries, I encourage you to publish in other places. Here's where several of my articles have appeared:

Why Writers Need To Become Time Aware If you want to increase your productivity as a writer, one of the first steps is to become more conscious of how you are using your time.

Authors Who Succeed in the Book Business Success leaves traces and this article details some of those principles from successful authors.

Why You Must Understand Your Target Audience Every effective author knows their target audience and give the details in this article. 

Tweetable:

When you get a book contract, do you negotiate? Even if you have an agent, you need to learn and understand the value of contract negotiations according to this prolific writer and editor. Read the article here. (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

The Value of A Template

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As writers, we have many repetitive tasks. There are emails to write, articles to pitch, books to propose and many other forms to fill out. These various templates have value because you don’t have to re-invent or create anything. Instead you simply fill out the form. Through the years I have found great value in templates. If there isn’t a template that I can get from a program or someone else, I create my own template. 

One of the most common templates would be a printed business letter with the name of your company or your name at the top, then your address, phone and email at the bottom. For any type of document which is repeated, I find it easier to create a template in this process. Several years ago I wrote a detailed article about using a book review template. I've also written about creating a template to get your book into libraries.  To pitch at writer’s conferences or other times, writers often create a one sheet which is another common template because as authors we don’t just pitch one book but many different books. 

Some agents will send their author’s a proposal template to make sure the author answers all the variuous parts of a book proposal. Other agents have a distinct template they will pour an author work into before the agent sends it to publishers. The agent does this step to create a brand or distinct look for their publihsher submissions.

Publishers like Morgan James Publishing where I’ve worked for the last ten years have a number of templates. For example, we acknowledge every submission with a letter in the mail and use a template. There is an acceptance letter and next steps letter which is a template. The book contract is also a template. We even have specialized contracts for different agencies and agencies because they have negotiated distinct clauses for their writers. I’m sure you can see there are many different types of templates and I’ve only scratched the surface.

While templates save time and have value, you also have to use them with caution:

1. Before you send it to someone, make sure you have rewritten it and personalized it to that particular person. Otherwise it comes across as “canned.” 

2. In general I give the form a second and maybe even a third look before I send it. It’s one of the advantages to using the "draft" feature in a program.

3. I think about when I’m sending an email to someone else and if I especially want them to read it, I make sure the email will arrive during their “working hours.” Most of the email programs allow you to schedule your email and I take advantage of this feature if I’m concerned about such a detail.

While you may use a template for a professional look and to make sure you cover all the necessary details, here’s what you should not to forget: you are communicating with another person and you want to connect with that person in the best possible way and make the right impression. Our communication skills as writers is an important aspect of our work.

Do you use templates in your work? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Do you use templates in your writing life? This prolific editor and author details the value of a template and some cautions. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

My Writing In Other Places:

In these articles, I encourage you to write in different places. In this section, I model such actions.

Searching for the Right Writing Fit 

With the amount of submissions and rejections every writer gets I wrote this article to encourage writers to keep going to find the right fit for their writing.

Five Essentials for Every Book Proposal Last week I was on Your Best Writing Life Podcast talking about these critical elements and I encourage you to listen and take advantage of the resources and information for your writing life.

Every Writer Needs Connections Whether you are new to publishing or have been in it for years, you need the right connections and contacts. I give details about how to grow those contacts.

 
Many writers have unrealistic ideas and expectations about publishing. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

Why Writers Should Care About Contract Details

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

One of the important elements in every book deal is the publishing contract. Yes I can see you possibly yawning and clicking away but I hope you will hang in there with me. First, I am not an attorney but I have studied publishing contract law and read numerous books on the topic—plus I've signed over 60 book contracts. Two of these contracts were lengthy with six-figure advances—and yes from well-known publishers.  I've learned some hard lessons in this process and often I hire my own literary attorney to review an agreement before I sign it because of those hard lessons.

 

Most contracts are buried in file cabinets and not in the public domain to show you for this article. The exception that I'm going to show you in this article is because this contract is in the public domain from a court case.

 

As a writer, I get a lot of enjoyment telling stories—whether the stories of others or my own stories. Crafting those details on my computer screen is a lot of fun. Yet as a writer, the task is much more diverse than just telling stories. As writers, we must wear many different hats and play many different roles. One of these roles is to carefully read and review our contracts and ask questions and clarifications. If I need help in this area of contracts, then I turn to my literary attorney or The Author's Guild. Even if you have never published a book, if you have a contract, you can join the author's guild. As a part of your membership, you can get their feedback and suggestions for your publishing contract. The time to get these clarifications and understanding for your contract is before you sign it.

 

Some publishers have lengthy contracts for a reason. Normally some author before you has caused an issue, so the resolution to that issue is an additional clause to their contract. For this reason, many of these agreements are lengthy and can have some innocent words with big meaning behind them. Part of the reason many publishing contracts are lengthy is because some author ahead of you has caused a challenge for the publishing company and they added a clause so this situation does not happen in future books. The exact words are important and another reason why you want an expert (someone who is looking out only for your interest) that you get to review the contract before signing.

 

Every publishing contract has an “acceptability” clause where the publisher gets to determine if the writer has delivered a manuscript which is acceptable to be published. This issue is why one of these dusty contracts is in the public domain and something I can show you in this article. The contract was done in the pre-computer days so it has crossed out sections and handwritten sections. It includes a four million dollar advance for two novels. Hopefully I've given you some motivation to look at this Joan Collins agreement. You can follow this link to see the agreement from the public domain.

 

As I understand the story, her agent crossed out the acceptability clause and she did not deliver a novel to the specified requirements. Random House balked at paying the remainder of the advance and the parties went to court. Because this acceptability clause was crossed out in the signed agreement, Random House lost the case—and publishers will always have this clause in their contract.  

 

How did I get a copy of this contract to show you? Years ago, I chaired a workshop at the American Society of Journalists and Authors annual conference in New York. I had three literary attorneys and a literary agent on my panel. One of those panelists was the former deputy consul at Simon and Schuster and brought this story and gave me the electronic version. When I heard these details, I pay attention. I also attend conferences and learn (something I recommend to every writer). Admittedly I've scratched the surface of a complex topic but hopefully given you some things to consider when you sign a contract in your future.

 

How do you process your publishing contracts? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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How To Handle the Perfect Storm

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last week I got an unexpected phone call. The project I was spending hours on every day suddenly was cancelled. The same day a literary agent called me to cancel a book contract with Morgan James. Yes it was the perfect storm. From my reading in publishing, I know this sort of thing is happening on many different fronts and places. 

I went through the different stages of grief—anger, looking for revenge, and finally acceptance and moving on. I went through the various stages pretty quickly. Why? Because I've faced these storms before—not recently—but in other parts of my writing career. I've had other books cancelled. I've been fired from companies and I've had an unjust senseless lawsuit to defend (which cost thousands). In the face of these storms, some days I wish I had selected another profession. Yet at my age and experience, it is too late to change. I've spent many years in publishing working with hundreds of authors on many different books. 

Not every day is easy and there are hard days in the publishing business. One of the best steps I've learned in these situations: to pivot to something else and keep going and keep moving. If you do nothing, then nothing happens. Even if you do a little bit on a project, keep that project moving.

I'm grateful for the diversity in my writing life. I'm still working with authors on their Morgan James books—something I've been doing for eight years. I'm still writing books for other people and still working on my online business. I recently wrote this article about the importance of diversity. Every writer needs multiple streams of income so when you face the perfect storm (as I did last week), you can still continue.

I'm refocused on other projects and other priorities. I'm also knocking on new doors every day and seeing if something else will open for my writing—as well as continuing on the projects in front of me. Also make sure you celebrate the victories. I received my 27^th  review on Amazon for 10 Publishing Myths.  The review came from one of my long-term friends who has written a number of New York Times bestsellers. To my surprise, this author bought my book and wrote a five star Amazon review. I was grateful for this encouragement.

Sharon Jenkins & Terry Whalin on Facebook Live talking about 10 Publishing Myths.

Books changed lives and are essential. Last week I did about a 45 minute Facebook Live video with Sharon Jenkins about 10 Publishing Myths. We talked about all of the various myths including the 11th Myth. I hope you will follow the link and watch this free workshop. We covered a lot of ground about publishing in our conversation.

This season is a different one in our lives and writing life. We will get through it but keep going. In the comments below, let me know how you are handling the perfect storm.

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How do you handle the perfect storm? Get insights and ideas from this prolific author and editor. (ClickToTweet)

When You Face Discouragement

While I've been in publishing many years, not everything that I try succeeds. In fact, I've had some pretty unproclaimed but spectacular failures over the years. One of my books got a six-figure advance for my book proposal (exciting). Then when this book was published, the sales were way less than expected (read poor) and the publisher put the book out of print after six months. I have a few copies of this book but most of them were returned and destroyed.

Other times I believe in an author, convince my colleagues to believe, Morgan James issues a contract and the author signs the contract, so we are going to publish the book. A beautiful book is designed and published—but the author doesn't generate pre-sales or orders and the book launches with zero pre-sales and zero orders. Because of the huge financial investment to publish a book, these facts can be discouraging.

Discouragement comes in all sorts of shapes and forms. I've reached out to conference directors to see if I can teach at their event (one of the ways I find new authors as an acquisitions editor). My requests are ignored (unanswered) or they choose to go in a different direction with other faculty. I give these examples of a few ways that discouragement has come knocking on my door recently but it can be in many other areas of the publishing world. The reality is “no thank you” is a frequent response (or simply silence and no response). How do you keep moving forward in the face of such obstacles?

1. Switch gears to a different type of writing. One of the best and most basic ways to find new opportunities is to change to a different type of writing. If you are writing books, begin writing some query letters and getting magazine assignments. If you are not getting much response on your books, maybe work on getting some speaking engagements or workshops. If you can't get any traction on personal appearances, then set up teleseminars. As writers we have a lot of diverse possibilities with our skill set. If you need more ideas, look at the first chapter of my Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams book which includes a list of different types of writing. This change might be exactly what you need to find the next open door. 

2. Read and take a break. Can you read a how-to book and learn something new to apply to your writing? I continue to read how-to books and learn from each of them. A new opportunity can come from your reading.

3. Reach out to old friends and colleagues. Pick up the phone and call some of your writer and editor friends. Is there something new they are working on that you could do or help with? From my experience many editors and agents have possible projects yet are looking for the right fit for that project.Your call to check in with them might be arriving at the right time for you to get one of these pending opportunities. If you aren't on their radar, that casual phone call might put you on their minds again.

Life is full of every day challenges and surprises. You will hit periods of discouragement. In those times, it is critical to move forward and jump into a new activity. It will push the discouragement away and your concentration will be focused on something new.

What steps to you take when you face discouragement? Tell me in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Do you stall or take action as a writer when you face discouragement? Get insights here. (ClickToTweet)
 

Publishing Experiments

Late last week online I saw several articles about the new HarperCollins imprint which is trying a different publishing model. The headline blared, "New HarperCollins Unit Cutting Advances; Refusing Returns" Now there's a way to get some attention!

The article about this new unit in The New York Times contains a ray of hope for authors. While there is little or no advance, the publisher hopes to offer authors a 50-50 split on the profits from the book. “Typically authors earn royalties of 15 percent of profits after they have paid off their advances. Many authors never earn royalties.” Yes, I’ve read 90% of nonfiction books never earn back their advance. A 50-50 split provides hope that authors can earn consistent income from their publishers—provided the book sells which is always a big caveat.

The other area of innovation involves not allowing returns for retailers. Many authors are unaware that booksellers have books in their stores on consignment. If they don't sell in a period, then they are returned to the publisher for a full credit or refund. This policy is a hold-over from the Great Depression according to Making The List by Michael Korda. Retailers complained about the risk of book publishing even then and the policy was established--and it has not been reversed. Can you think of another major product which operates in this way? I applaud HarperCollins for attempting something different about this long-term challenge for any publisher.

My entries about The Writing Life are going to be thin (if at all) for the rest of this week. Early tomorrow, I'm headed to New York City and a series of meetings for the rest of the week. I'll be speaking at the Grand Hyatt next door to Grand Central Station on Saturday as a part of the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference. I'm on a panel about blogging and it should be fun. I'm certain I will learn some new things that I'll come back here and capture.