4 Ways NOT to Be A "Lost Author"

Last week I attended Book
Expo America, the largest trade show for books in
the U.S. I was there because of my work as an acquisitions editor at Morgan
James Publishing. Thousands of booksellers, media,
librarians and others from the publishing industry were showing their latest and
forthcoming books. It was exciting to see bestselling authors and enthusiastic
readers of books.



This massive event can be overwhelming—especially
to the new author. Several times during the week, I met authors who were “lost.”
Now to be honest some of them didn't know they were lost. From my interaction
with them, I knew they were in this category.



In different places of this trade show, there are
small booth exhibitors. One booth was attracting people with fresh cookies. I
stopped but didn't eat a cookie. I listened to the author. This former
journalist had written a novel. I recognized the book was self-published from a
company where I've met authors who have spent $20,000 with them and the books
are only online and not inside any brick and mortar bookstore. I asked if she
fell into this category in terms of her personal investment. To my relief, she
had not. Wisely this author had spent most of her budget on editing her book.




As I listened to her pitch about the book, I
learned she had written a civil war historical novel based on her part of the
South. The cover was a “different” looking drawing (not your typical
eye-catching book cover). I could hear the passion in this author's voice. It
was not only a historical novel but a young adult time travel fantasy. See the
challenge for booksellers and librarians to process this string of categories?
It doesn't neatly fall into a single place in the bookstore or library. While I
admired her passion and commitment to market her book, I knew this author was
lost in the market and probably had no idea why her book wasn't getting
attention and readers.



A little later, I met another author.
This former pro-athlete who gave me a copy of his book.  I took a quick look and
noticed it was also self-published. The book was small and an odd size. When I
opened it, the typeface was not what you find in books and had full color
photos. This author had passion and had invested in publishing his book—yet I
knew he was also lost and unsure how to find readers and sell books.



While self-publishing is exploding with almost
5,000 new books entering the market every day, my personal bent is to get
the broadest exposure for my writing and books. In other words, I want my books
to be available online but also in brick and mortar bookstores. I want to give
you four ways not to be a “lost author.”



1. Study the publishing
world and get to a writers' conference, take classes and
meet experienced professionals. I'm speaking at several events so check them out and I'd love to
meet you at one of these conferences.



2. Write a good book. Your book needs a good foundation so
make sure you have a target audience in mind and are writing for that audience.
Get an outside editor or join a critique group to get feedback on your book before
publishing it. 



3. Create a book which fits the
market. The details matter in publishing. Even if you are going to
self-publish, make sure you have an attractive cover and interior. Show the
cover to the target market and get their honest feedback. Does your book look
like books from major publishers? Does it have a little logo on the bottom of
the book spine? If not, change it so it does. You don't want people to wonder
about such details but to simply accept your book as a solid
product.



4. Take your own responsibility to market and tell
people about books. Get others to give honest reviews for your book. Tell the
media about your book and get booked on radio programs and other venues.




Even if you do everything “right” with a solid
publisher or have a literary agent, not every book sells or some books still
have dismal sells or they take several years to take off. There is no set
formula for a book to sell but there are good practices in
publishing.



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