Tag Archives: books

S&S has International Appeal

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Simon & Schuster’s president and CEO Carolyn Reidy said the company’s top growth is coming from international sales. Foreign markets are hungry for American books of all types.
To take advantage of this trend, submit to S&S. If you have any works self-published, make sure you’re offering them on digital platforms that have a presence in foreign countries. You don’t have to have a translation; it’s possible to make sales in English-speaking countries as well as India, Scandinavia, and other areas where English is spoken widely as a second language.

Book Agent Info

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Nikki Terpilowski of Holloway Lit wants women’s fiction, southern fiction, multicultural literary fiction, upmarket African-American fiction, steam funk, romance, military and espionage thrillers, historical fiction, nonfiction with a strong platform and academic assessments of popular culture, graphic novels, Manga, YA, MG and children’s picture books.

She is especially interested in time travel, reincarnation, mythology, ancient civilizations, magical and animist realism, Japan, American history, military, espionage, martial arts, narrative nonfiction about food and beverage, travel or expat life, international relations and foreign policy, and nonfiction on spirituality, parenting, health and wellbeing.

Self-pub or Traditional?

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One of the biggest questions facing authors today is whether to go indie or pitch their work to a heritage publisher. In 2013, the Big Six (now the Big Five) commanded 89.6% of the titles in hardcover editions. That is a big chunk of the game.

Always remember that if your pitch to publishers fails, you can always self-publish. And nowadays, you can self-publish and still approach publishers with the same manuscript. So your options aren’t actually either-or. Nowadays, it’s a matter of how many paths you’ll take to publishing rather than which single path you’ll chose.

Great News in Publishing

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In 2013, more new titles landed on the bestseller lists than ever before. That year beat out 2012, which also had more new titles than any previous year. That’s great news for authors who are interested in approaching traditional publishers with their manuscripts.

Mass market again saw the most first-time titles, with 290 books. This category was followed by hardcover fiction with 251 and trade paperbacks with 187 new titles. Nonfiction had 269 in their hardcover category.

What Netflix Can Teach Publishers and Authors

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Netflix has been on a roll. Originally considered something of a rube among Hollywood types, the individual responsible for its success has proven that new ways of thinking, and servicing viewer’s desires and needs before any other metric, is the path to success these days.

Netflix did everything “wrong,” according to film’s old guard. It released a full season of episodes all at the same time to allow for binge viewing (which subscribers wanted), it paid top dollar to lease items that others would have taken only if they could own (again to serve their subscribers regardless of the way others would have made a deal), and they bought new concepts without forcing the producers to make a pilot (taking a chance again to give viewers what they want).

Publishers could learn from all this. Release books faster (because that’s what readers want), allow authors to maintain ownership (serve readers no matter what the old deals looked like), and take chances on unproven concepts (because again, readers want unique, fresh ideas from authors who haven’t yet “proven” themselves with big publishers).

Authors, too, can learn from Netflix. Although the company is willing to take risks and try new things, the concepts they’ve bought have had a strong level of professionalism built in. Actors have been sought out who are clear viewer favorites to attract viewers to those fresh concepts. All the deals made have also been for concepts that have fully written scripts, professional people already on board, and “bibles” or dossiers that outline the fictional world’s details in full.

For authors, this means having a full and polished manuscript ready to go, professional assistance from editors or pitch consultants, and a fully developed idea about their audience, publishing trends, and the author’s potential or actual platform (which is all wrapped into a book proposal, the author’s bible).

Publishing Trends: YA

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Agents are reporting that the number of submissions they’re receiving in the YA category can average 10,000 every year. To ensure your work stands out, consider the latest trends.

The market these days is more sophisticated. Your story has to be sharper and smarter than ever before.

Paranormal elements are fading rapidly; they’ve been overdone.

Contemporary realism continues to be a mainstay.

Stories that offer a hook that allows the book to rise above the masses of other available titles are always in demand. Hone your pitch pieces (the query letter, book proposal, synopsis, etc.) so that your project has the best chance in this area.

Deep emotional topics are in demand because they help guide readers who might be dealing with the same issues.

Thrillers are a big area set for growth. Everyone’s looking for the YA version of Gone Girl.

The Advantages of Short Books

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Short books have gained a lot of credibility in the publishing arena. Still primarily the purview of self-published and indie authors, shorter books are having an important impact on writing careers.

Shorter works allow authors to generate more titles in shorter timeframes. Since algorithms and search results are going to be pushed in part by the number of titles available, this is no small point.

Shorter works also allow authors to constantly offer readers something fresh and new.

Short works can provide an opportunity to work in a new genre or category with less risk than creating a longer work.

How do you use short books to your advantage?

USA Today’s Top Picks for 2013

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Here’s a list of the top 2013 books from USA Today.

Trends: Novella

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Recently there’s been some chatter about novellas. For a long time, novellas were shunned by all but literary publishers. Too short, it seemed, translated into too little interest by readers. Of course, there was the biggest problem: novellas were not terribly economical to print. That impacts the bottom line, and that means more pushback from publishers.

The trend has been increasing judging by what I’ve been hearing from agents and publishers alike. They want longer books (fiction and nonfiction), and the 50,000 word minimum is being held to more strongly than ever before. This makes sense in a time when publishers are trying to trim every penny to enhance their waning profits.

But organizations that have been keeping tabs on self-publishing are questioning this wisdom. They note that when publishers do take on novellas, they are marketing them as novels so as not to undermine the work in readers’ eyes. Also, they’ve noted that genre works are seeing success as novellas.

This is in part due to self-publishing successes. Authors write what they write…they honor the story itself without having to worry much about lengths and economies of scale if they are self-publishing. Readers are interested in the story, not whether it’s long or short, or which publisher it might have come from.

Novellas, then, might find that they will receive a greater amount of respect from traditional publishers in the future. This will take a year or more to sink in, though. For now, consider your length when approaching traditional publishers. Aim for that 50K minimum to ensure you aren’t rejected on length alone.

Tattoos Based on Books

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I couldn’t resist sharing this unique post about books that inspired tattoos. Includes pics of body art!

PW’s Top YA Books for 2013

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Great list of top YA books from 2013 here.

Ficton Contest Now Open

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The Laine Cunningham long-form fiction contest is open. Now in its fifth year, the contest awards $1,000 to first place, $500 to second place, $250 for third place, and a certificate for honorable mention.

Fiction ranging from 30,000 words up is eligible. The manuscripts can be novels, novellas, short story collections, mixtures of various forms (including short prose and flash fiction), YA, New Adult and adult romance, sci-fi, literary, mainstream…pretty much as long as it meets the minimum length requirement, anything goes.

Details are available on Writer’s Resource’s website under the Writing Contest tab.

The 80/20 Sales Rule for Authors

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It’s long been known in business that 20% of your existing customers generate 80% of your sales. The same can be said of book fans. When someone reads a novel or nonfiction title they enjoy, they will actively seek out additional works by the same author. Keep these tips in mind as you reach out to your fan base.

–Keep in contact through social media or your email lists. Let people know what you’re working on as well as opportunities to find older titles you might not be actively marketing.

–Serve your fans. Why are people reading your novels: for entertainment, for a deeper social message? Is your nonfiction a vehicle for inspiration or concrete tips? Be sure to address these components with every outreach.

–Reward return readers. Find a way to say thank you to fans who keep coming back. Offer to provide free ebooks to anyone who sends in a receipt for a particular printed title. Host a lunchtime Skype session where you chat with readers about their burning questions about your upcoming book.

Keep these ideas in mind and you’ll build loyalty to you, the brand behind your books.

 

How Books Avoid the Digital Decline

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The New Republic magazine recently presented an article on how books are avoiding the digital decline seen in the music and video entertainment industries.

Generally, CDs declined not because people switched to digital versions that were cheaper but because they listen to songs individually…and wanted to buy only one or two songs from an album.

TV shows suffered the same fate. The packages of entire seasons weren’t always what people wanted to buy and so they turned to individual streaming of single shows.

Books, on the other hand, can’t be offered in pieces. Although some authors have found success serializing their books by releasing single chapters at a time, most readers want to consume the entire work in a single sitting or multiple sittings performed within a short timeframe. This is part of the engagement of readers in a story or nonfiction topic, so books perform better for readers when they are consumed in this fashion.

So, although prices have fluctuated for ebooks, there really isn’t any comparison that can be made for how a reader is impacted by a book. It has to be taken as a complete whole at the reader’s leisure, not in bits strung out over time.

As we move forward into this new world of publishing, remember that. Price your works accordingly, and reserve the low prices and bundling deals as short-term sales.

Book Marketing with Adjunct Stories

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Often I talk to authors about selling themselves to readers as much as their books. It’s natural for readers to want to know more about authors, their motivation for writing a particular book, even about the writing process.

Nowadays, with short books and short stories being produced in ebook and even print formats, there’s an added ability to market your books. No matter what you’re writing, you can create adjunct books.

Consider a self-help author with a workbook…the workbook isn’t the primary self-help book but it adds to the original publication in a helpful manner. Novelists, too, can use this idea by writing short stories about appealing secondary characters in their stories.

These can be sold, of course, or given away to generate interest in the book. Since most adjunct books are short, the time and effort to produce them is often much less than what the original project required.