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Tapping Your Network
You’ve signed with your dream publisher and submitted your manuscript to production. As release day draws closer, you wonder what you can do as author to help sales and publicity. The following are a few tips that involve leveraging your network to drive sales as soon as your book is available for preorder. > Ask… Continue reading
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Refreshing Your Website before Hitting “Send”
Many publishers check prospective authors’ platforms ahead of offering them a publishing agreement. Their goal is to sign authors with a strong platform to mitigate the risk of signing someone who cannot help drive sales of their book. So, the following are two elements that authors should address before sending a publisher their book proposal.… Continue reading
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Shifting the Focus of Your Book Post-Contract
Often, books are contracted months or even years ahead of their release. As authors’ platforms and work evolve, they may find that the audience or topic they’re writing to is no longer the largest part of their business. To get the publisher’s support to change directions while keeping the contract terms intact, an author might… Continue reading
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Positioning Yourself as the Right Person to Write This Book
A proper book proposal should position the prospective author as an expert or unique voice on the subject. After all, the writer isn’t just trying to convince the publisher to release a book on the subject but to contract the writer to author that book. When making their case, the writer can include the following… Continue reading
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Communicating Your Vision for Your Book’s Cover Design
Cover design is one of the most exciting parts of the book production process. Undoubtedly, both author and publisher understand that a well-designed cover draws in readers, and all parties want to be proud of the end result. However, the author and publisher often have differing ideas of what that design looks like. For the… Continue reading
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Identifying Your Primary Audience
Whether reading a proposal or discussing a prospective author’s book idea, there’s a point when my focus turns to primary audience—that is, the customer who will buy the most copies of the author’s book. It is quite common for authors who want their books to reach as many people as possible and undoubtedly to sell… Continue reading
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Optimizing Online Presence to Attract Trade Publishers
I’ll begin with a quote by bestselling author Jeb Blount (2010): “People buy you.” In this case, people encompass acquisitions editors—the party a publisher tasks with signing new authors to books that support publisher goals. Before an acquisitions editor invites a prospective author for a meeting or to send a book proposal, they will likely… Continue reading
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Choosing a Publisher for Your Book
Consider who publishes the books you cite in your own work Continue reading
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Getting Past Imposter Syndrome for New Authors
During a staff meeting, my colleagues discussed several newly signed authors who were hesitant to send in their draft manuscripts because they feared the content wasn’t good enough. They were missing submission deadlines and fretting over the layout and direction of their manuscripts. These authors concerned were perfectly reasonable—and to expected—from new authors. However, my… Continue reading
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Coauthoring a Book: 4 Recommendations for a Smooth Publishing Experience
I noticed that quite a number of books that I acquired have multiple authors. Whether they’re longtime business partners penning their first book or previously published authors sharing a byline for the first time, coauthors can do the following to make the process easier on them and the publisher. Have a clear, joint vision for… Continue reading
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