Is Book Publishing Like A Marathon or a Sprint?

Many writers want to publish a book. From my
many years in publishing, I find few of them have thought about whether the
process of publishing a book is like a sprint (something with a burst of speed)
or a marathon (steady and consistent to complete the task). I often see authors
who want to sprint to publication or sprint to get a book contract or a bestseller.
Reality is that often it takes consistent, hard work to produce anything of
excellence—the writing or the marketing. Authors are not overnight successes but
instead spend years in the trenches faithfully working to get their work noticed
and sold.



This week a young author outside of the U.S.
wrote and asked if a decision had been made on his manuscript. It had been less
than two weeks since I had corresponded with this author and it took a number of
emails until he gave me what I needed to submit his work. I told this author if
he wants a “no, thank you” then I could do that right away but if he wants a
“yes” with a publishing contract then that takes patience and time.



While there are many keys in book publishing, in
this article, I want to emphasize four important areas.



You Need A Great
Product



Too many authors want to dash off something
and rush it into the marketplace. I've seen it in my own work and the work of
others. Haste often makes waste or mistakes. Take the time to write an excellent
book or book proposal. The book proposal is
your business plan for your book—whether you are writing nonfiction or
fiction—whether you are self-publishing or traditional. You need a plan and it
is important to build the plan with a great manuscript. The writing has to be
excellent. You need others to affirm that excellence before rushing it to the
market. 



The devil is in the details. Are all of the details in place for your book
before you take it to the marketplace? Does it have a great title? Does it have
an attractive cover? Does the first page make me want to turn to the second
page? Does the copy on the back cover, draw me to going to the cash register?
This week I was a full-color children's book which had no descriptive
information on the back cover. Yes it had a barcode and the name of the
publisher but nothing to draw me to buy the book. It is a huge omission and
lowers the standard for this product. Don't make these basic errors because you
are eager to get your book to the market.



You Need to Build an
Audience



You've poured a lot of energy and effort into your
book. Will you have readers or people who want to read your work—and who are
excited about it that they tell others? When someone tells another person about
a book, that is called “Word of Mouth.” It is golden when it happens and takes
work from the author. As an author you can't lean on your publisher to market
your book and build your audience. You have to take your own responsibility for
marketing your own book. I understand the reluctance—and I've been there too but
I tell every author as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James that they have 80%
of the responsibility. Our publishing house will sell the book into the
bookstores but all of those books can be returned if the author doesn't promote
their book. 







I have much more detail and many more ideas
in Platform Building
Ideas for Every Author which is free (just use the
link). 

   

You Need to Have
Patience



The majority of book publishing is not quick.
You send your material to editors and agents yet do not get a response or
receive a response months after your submission.  The reality is that it takes
time to build consensus among colleagues to issue a book contract or to make a
contract offer to publish. As a writer you want to follow-up and make sure the
editor or agent received your material and everything is in process. But in
contrast, you do not want to push because most of the time when you push, you
will nudge that professional toward sending you a polite “no thank you.”




Instead of pushing for a decision, you are
better to begin another project. Write a one page query letter for a magazine article. Pitch a magazine
editor to assign you to become a columnist. Begin a new book project or
book proposal. This effort will
remove your focus on the project which is under
consideration. 



You Need to Have More Than One
Project



If you have more than one proposal or one
book, you will be less anxious about the submission and be able to shift your
focus to the new project or new writing assignment. It will increase your own
productivity in the writing world. Recently I was interviewed on this topic of
productivity. I encourage you to listen to Productivity in Writing on the Northern Colorado Writers
Podcast. It's about a 35 minute session about how to become more productive
as a writer.











How do you view book publishing? As a
marathon or a sprint? I'd love to have your comments or any other way I can help
you with this process. As an acquisitions editor, I'm
constantly looking for good books to publish. Don't hesitate to contact me and
my work contact information is on the second page of this
link.