Holiday Wish for Every Writer
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 23rd, 2005 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This holiday season I wish that every writer could become a successfully published author. Success could be defined in a number of ways and if each and every one of you is serious about your craft, YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL!
Publishing is a very competitive business, the marketplace and battle for the disposable dollars of readers is intense. Getting your work published and becoming successful does not have to depend on nationwide bookstores or New York Times bestseller lists.
If there were special tracks that writers could take to become successful I would be first in line to point the way, but there are not. It takes hard work, a passion for what you are doing, an understanding of the business, and how to succeed inside that marketplace to have a chance at becoming a successful author.
Writers who can make a comfortable living by doing what they love and publishing their work should consider themselves successful. It does not take national publicity, huge advertising budgets, or hundreds of thousands of copies sold. It takes patience, knowing your market, and the willingness to take small steps.
It I could offer any encouragement to every one of you on a daily basis, here is what I would say: Today, spend some time writing. Write in your own voice and tell the story you want to tell. Your writing is unique to you as an individual; that is what makes your writing special. Follow your heart, pursue your passion, dreams can come true.
Wishing each and every one of you a joyous Christmas.
Defending My Position
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 14th, 2005 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
There has been some criticism leveled against me and this web site recently for leading people to believe the information is FREE and that my background gives writers a narrow perspective on publishing. Let me defend both the content of the information and my experience in publishing!
The information available to readers on my BLOG and in the TIPS for WRITERS is FREE. The book I am currently selling is WHAT WRITERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PUBLISHING and helps to pay monthly hosting charges for this web site. In the future it is my hope there will be more services and books available for writers who are interested in learning more about the business of publishing and how to improve their chances of becoming a successfully published author.
The FREE information covers a variety of topics in a broad sense and is not intended to be an in-depth examination of all areas of publishing. My goal is to help writers understand the importance of the information and the need to learn more about the marketplace as well as what goes on behind the scenes with the publication of their book.
My background gives readers a unique perspective on publishing. My experience allows me to approach the subject of publishing from a different perspective that what you will find at any other web site. I am completely comfortable with the information I share with my readers. There is real importance in what I offer writers and the more they read and learn the better chance each will have of being successful as an author.
My hope is create dialogue between this web site and writers. It is important to share information with those facing similar problems or concerns. Certainly I am hoping to eventually profit from the information I share. I will continue to offer the basics for FREE. For serious writers who want more information in greater detail, like any other author, I will provide that for a fair price. The information has value and I do this because I want to help writers become successful and at the same time make this web site profitable.
Hiring An Outside Book Publicist
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 12th, 2005 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
If your book is being published and you want to use an outside public relations agency or book publicist, there are two things you need to keep in mind:
(1) Before you hire anyone you need to know the budget for your book. You must know what your publisher plans to spend on advertising, promotion, marketing, and publicity.
(2) Make certain the outside agency has experience in books and will work with your publisher without asking for their assistance.
If your book were positioned where you are receiving little or no support from your publisher, then hiring an outside agency or publicist to work with you in a local or regional market would be a good idea. If your publisher is offering little in the way of budget for promoting your book, it can still be a good idea to use an outside agency or publicist to fill in the gaps in your advertising, promotion, marketing, and publicity plans.
Publishers are uncomfortable with outside people who want to use in-house resources for their own purposes under the pretense that they are “for the author.” Departments will not share contact names with any outside agency or publicist regardless of the author, yet many agencies or publicists make the request. Publishers have been known to slash or eliminate budgets when they find out an author has hired an outside agency.
If you read my book you will find out how to work with the in-house departments to allocate resources toward what you want in terms of advertising, promotion, marketing, and publicity.
Make certain whomever you hire has experience with books and publishers. Ask for references of the authors with whom they have worked and the titles of the books they have promoted. You want to see copies of the articles in newspapers and magazines they have arranged and you want to view television clips and listen to radio recordings of their author clients.
Hiring an outside agency that is not experienced with books or publishers is a bad idea. Hiring an outside agency or publicist before knowing what your publisher plans to spend on you and your book is placing the cart before the horse and can result in your entire budget being cut or eliminated. Why promote your book on your dime when you can use your publishers?
Attracting The Attention of The Big Publishers
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 8th, 2005 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
For those of you who thought the only way to land a contract with one of the larger trade publishers was with an agent, well I’m here to tell you that is not the case. There are two more ways to attract the attention of the bigger publishers: (1) Doing it yourself through quality self-publishing, and (2) With a small traditional press.
The large publishers only care about one thing: Can the book sell? There are rumors that the New York companies will not reprint or re-publish any book that was first published by a small press or even one that was self-published. Well, again, I’m here to tell you that is not true! If a book appears to be one that publishers can expand the distribution and enlarge sales, they won’t care by whom or where the book was published. The real question they will ask themselves is…can they make money?
To attract the attention of a large trade publisher with a quality self-published book, you need to sell somewhere in the range of a few thousand copies and generate publicity on radio, TV or print. The sale figure is not a hard and fast number, it will vary depending on the market at the time, the subject and category of the title, and the platform that you offer for yourself as an author. If you concentrate on a local or regional market, are successful at generating publicity, then you can sell what you need to get the attention you want.
If a small press is publishing your book then you need to sell-through at a rate somewhere in excess of 80%. The net number is not the important factor, of course the higher the better, but the true benchmark is the percent of copies you sell net, compared to the number that is printed and distributed to booksellers. Again, the 80% is not a hard a fast number, there are other factors.
It may all sound simple, but the reality is that selling books and maintaining a high sell-through is not easy. If you want to attract the attention of a larger trade publisher without going the agent route, you know how to do it!
Are Publishers Lazy?
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 4th, 2005 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
A good friend of mine read an article recently that outlined the jobs of publishers and editors. It said that promotion was part of their responsibility, and even though authors are encouraged to generate some of their own publicity, part of the job of editors and publishers was to promote books. There was a feeling among writers that publishers in general were not doing their jobs the way they should, they do not promote authors enough, and the implication was that publishers are lazy or careless. So I had to address the question: Are publishers lazy?
Considering that I worked in New York for more than twenty years, those of you reading this blog may think that my bias would be towards the publishers. However, those who have read anything I have written should know otherwise. The answer to the question is a resounding NO! Publishers are not lazy, just overextended, under funded, and desperate to find new ways of generating income from the sale of books.
Publishers are not profitable companies, they often operate in a corporate environment where growth rates in double digits are expected. The result is that publishers do not have the time, money, or manpower to promote books and generate publicity the way they should. It is not a fact of being lazy or careless, just the facts surrounding the business of publishing as part of a major media conglomerate.
This is why it is so important for writers to understand the marketplace, and how the business operates behind the scenes, so they have the kind of information they need to be more responsible for, and responsive to, the sale and marketing of their book(s).
