Okay, this can be a little tricky. All authors (and agents, for that matter) love getting big advances. I mean, who doesn’t want big money? The perception is often that the size of publisher’s advance is an indication of the level of a publisher’s commitment to your book.  Here’s what you need to know about advances:

An advance is not free money a publisher hands out for you to spend however or wherever you like. The best way to think about an advance is as a loan the publishing is giving you to cover any costs you might accrue during the writing of your book. I once had an author tell me that he really needed more money because his mother-in-law was about to default on her mortgage and the advance money was going to help her keep her house. Bad idea.

Advances are supposed to be proportionate to estimated sales of your book within its first eighteen months of publication. For example, if a publisher offers $45,000, that means they expect your book to earn out at least $45,000 in sales during that initial sales period. One little known fact is that if a book doesn’t earn out its full advance, or the manuscript the author submits is not the manuscript the book was contracted to be, the publisher reserves the right to ask for any and all unearned portions of the advance back. Authors frequently dispute this but it is in the contract. Publishers rarely act on this, but some have and as an author, you need to be prepared for this possibility. What’s the moral here? READ YOUR CONTRACT. Get to know it line-by-line. If there’s anything you don’t understand, make sure your agent or a trusted attorney who is knowledgeable in publishing law, goes over it with you.

Royalties (see below for source)

Think about it though. If you get a $100,000 advance, that means you have to sell $100,000 worth of books. That’s a lot of books…and potentially a lot of stress. Remember also that you won’t even start to earn royalties on your book until that advance is earned out in full. This means that a lot of books never earn royalties. It can be awfully discouraging.

The sad fact—though from a business perspective it makes sense—is that publishers aren’t paying out the big bucks for new books like they used to. The publishing industry was hit hard by the recession and is still struggling. As much as we might like to think that publishers publish for their sheer love of books, the cold hard fact is that publishing is a business, like any other. Publishers are in to make money. It is all about the bottom-line. And it has to be. If you think about all the money paid out to authors for books that never come close to earning out their advances, you’re talking about an industry that consistently operates at a loss. It’s not a good business model by anyone’s perspective.

When considering offers, try to look beyond the advance. Pay attention to the royalty structure being offered, but more so, look at how creatively and proactively your publisher approaches the marketing and publicity for your book. I’ve sometimes advised authors to go with the publisher that may pay less up front but is really committed to marketing the heck out of your book. If the book sells, the money will follow.

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this. Agents post submission guidelines on their websites for a reason. It is your responsibility as an author to make sure you adhere to these guidelines, whether it be for submitting a novel manuscript or a non-fiction proposal.  If you don’t, you are only shooting yourself in the foot and limiting your chances even further of getting picked up for representation.

If you want your foot in the door, listen to your agent! Photo via businesspundit.com

With fiction, I know it’s tempting to give an agent more than they req uest. As an author in the process of pitching his first novel to agents myself, I’m with you. Still, if an agent asks for a succinct cover letter, a 2-3-page plot synopsis and the first 5 pages of manuscript—do NOT send them 10 pages. I can almost guarantee that you are setting yourself up for rejection. Agents don’t have a lot of free time to look at new material. A good agent—like a good acquisitions editor—is bombarded with dozens of proposals and manuscripts at any given time. When he or she does have time to consider new work, they are going to be attracted to something well-written of course, but almost more importantly, something that grabs their interest within the first couple of pages. If you can’t do that within 5 pages, you need to work on your opener. If an agent likes what he or she reads in those first 5 pages, they will probably ask to see more.

With non-fiction, you have a bit more leeway, though not much. Make sure you pay attention to an agent’s non-fiction proposal guidelines before you submit your work to them for consideration. Or, if you’re not sure, feel free to email them any questions you might have. Don’t call. Most agents don’t like talking to writers they haven’t already had some interaction with before. The important things to include in a proposal are:

1. An Overview (a couple paragraphs describing your book idea)
2. Target Market (who is the book targeted toward? We’ve talked about this here before.)
3. Table of Contents (it doesn’t have to be carved in stone because changes happen during the writing/editorial process, but be sure to include catchy chapter headings as well as a 3-4 sentence summary of each chapter’s contents.)
4. Deliverables (when do you estimate delivering the final manuscript? How many words do you estimate? Any pictures, graphs, charts, or other illustrations?)
5. Competitive Title Analysis (what’s already been published on your subject, when and by whom? How is your book different and/or better than its competition? Be thorough in your research and analysis. Don’t ever say your book is the only one of its kind. Agents won’t be impressed. They’ll just assume you were lazy and didn’t do your homework.)
6. Author Bio (a couple paragraphs about yourself, your qualifications, etc.)
7. Marketing/PR Platform (What are you already doing to promote and brand yourself as an expert in the field you are writing about? What resources can you draw on to help the publisher market/promote your book once it’s published? This is an essential part of any strong book proposal…and often the most difficult part to write.)
8. Sample Chapters (usually two suffices. Choose the chapters that you feel are most representative of your overall narrative.)

Jon Malysiak is part of the Networlding Publishing Team. He works with me to support our ongoing efforts to educate thought leaders on the best practices for success in this new world of publishing.

Jeff Molander

Wanting to know how much time to give LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogging (etc) per day is a natural desire. But having that answer won’t make social media produce better results. That’s why many of us are putting down “hour a day” books and picking up a new habit: asking a different question. That is: “How can I get clear on what social media’s purpose is for my business—and how I can best use it to achieve that specific goal?” Why ask this question? Because doing so will help you decide how much time to invest occurs naturally, painlessly and obviously. Use time and pressure to create results to your advantage. Ask a better question.

Ugh…we all have deadlines and we all find ourselves scrambling at the last minute to either complete a task or project on time or try to find ways to extend that dreaded due date. The same is true, if not more so, in publishing. Publishers have very

specific dates in mind for when a manuscript needs to hit each of its respective deadlines. An entire season can hinge on whether a book is published at its scheduled time. If you, as the author, are late in getting your final edits back to your editor or if you keep soliciting outside advice on your book’s title or cover design to the point where you can’t make a final decision, the success of your book could truly be at stake.

Once the publishing contract has been signed, one of the first duties of your acquisitions editor is to go over the production schedule with you. Keep in mind, that there is often greater room for flexibility here than most editors will have you believe. Still, it is imperative that you turn in your work on time. As ego-bruising as it may be to admit that your book isn’t the publisher’s number one priority, it’s true. Depending on the size of the publisher, there could be anywhere from twenty to thirty other books at various stages of the production cycle simultaneous to yours. In order to keep everything running smoothly—and to preserve your editor’s sanity—it behooves you to stay on track.  Or, if you know in advance that you’re running behind, be sure to alert your editor sooner rather than later.

If absolutely necessary, a book may be pushed back a season…sometimes two. No one is happy about this—least of all the bookstore buyers—but it happens. A delay beyond this oftentimes, however, spells your book’s doom.  Book release dates are determined by a number of factors, most of which are somehow tied into the book’s marketing/pr schedule. If you start missing your deadlines, the window of opportunity for your book from a sales and marketing perspective narrows exponentially. No one wants to see this happen.

So, be organized, stick to your deadlines, communicate with your editor if you anticipate a delay…and everyone should be happy.

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Another mistake I’ve seen authors make is to become too attached to a particular title that they won’t even consider anything else. Sure, it is important to include a catchy or insightful title (and subtitle) with your book proposal. You want to capture that literary agent’s immediate attention. However, chances are that title that you’ve spent so much time creating and soliciting advice about from friends, family, and acquaintances won’t make it past the initial publishing committee. Obviously, your book’s title is going to be one of its first selling points. Because of this, publishers spend hours upon hours in meetings devoted to titling your book. Believe me, I’ve been there. Titling meetings are among the most boring and oftentimes frustrating experiences that any acquisitions editor or publisher has to endure. But it is a very necessary evil.

It typically works like this.  Your acquisitions editor asks you to brainstorm four or five additional titles that might work. He or she then brings your list into the titling meeting, which usually consist of the publisher, the sales directors, marketing and publicity manager, your publicist assigned to your book, and often the cover design team as well. They go back and forth, hem and haw, and come up with some suggestions of their own. Your acquisitions editor then goes back to you with the title options the team has created and solicits your opinion. More often than not, the title of your published book will not be the one you had originally proposed. However, I have seen occasions where after all this work, the team agrees that the initial title will work after all and runs with it.

This can be very frustrating and very time-consuming. Remember, although the material is your own, the publisher reserves the right to make all final decisions about how your book is titled and packaged. If you are adamantly against a particular title, be able to articulate why. It is in your best interests do so without sounding too defensive. Ultimately though, everyone wants you to be happy with any decisions made about your book…including the title. Publishing is a very pseudo-collaborative process and generally, when all is said and done, things work out nicely for all parties involved.

Just remember: the title is one of the most important selling factors for your book. As frustrating as the process often is, the best thing an author can be is flexible. That way, it’s a win/win situation for everyone.

Jon Malysiak is part of the Networlding Publishing Team. He works with me to support our ongoing efforts to educate thought leaders on the best practices for success in this new world of publishing.

You can also find him at: http://author-on-the-town.blogspot.com

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