Author Information

If you are writing a non-fiction book, an agent is not usually needed. You do not need to complete the book before sending the mss to a publisher. Just three chapters and the list of contents and synopsis are sufficient. However, you do need to write an interesting letter to the publisher about yourself and your qualifications for writing the book. Most publishers will introduce your book to bookshops in the month that it is published, but after that, they do little marketing. You need to demonstrate to the publisher that your book will be a best seller, and you do that by having a good marketing strategy yourself with press releases, creating your own book launch, organising talks, publishing extracts, writing articles on the topic, making YouTube videos, and getting as many interviews as you can including on radio shows. Etc Etc. Your proposal should include any research you have done and details of your marketing strategy.

A non-fiction book is usually a minimum 60,000 words so aim for this ballpark figure. Remember that the title and subtitle you give your book might not be the one that the publisher agrees to. Publishers have standard titles that your book might comfortably slot into, or there might be another book on the market with a similar title. 

Submit your transcript on a Word document or PDF without formatting as the publisher will have in-house services for this.

To find a traditional publisher for a novel, you will need an agent. They earn 10% of your 10% so it is in their interests to make sure your book gets a good publisher and will sell well. However, how many hours will it take someone to read your story? 20 hours is probably a minimum if it is properly read. As agents earn a minimum of £15 per hour, you can work out that they will need to cover their costs of £300 at 10% so you will need to sell 3000 books at £10 each, and that is just for the reading. Presenting your novel at book fairs and to publishing houses costs a considerable further sum. Think in terms of selling at least 10,000 copies of your novel as these are the terms in which agents think.    

Most traditional publishers give authors 10% in royalties for which they should read the text and give feedback, provide the cover image, mock up with formatting, have the hard copies produced abroad, such as in China, fly the hard copies to a wholesaler who then will send the books to local retail shops when requested. They might also take your book around by their representatives to try to receive sales for the bookshelves. Most books published now are paperbacks unless a coffee table book or a potential best seller. 

   

When you send your transcript, covering letter and proposal, do not expect an immediate reply. Each publisher wants to see your work first before any other and they do not like multiple submissions. However, if you do make multiple submissions, they like to know this as it might hurry them up to be the first to make you an offer. 

 

You might like to consider self publishing with a small printer as you can choose the title, the price, the cover, the paper, etc., yourself, and when you are performing talks at events, sell them direct to purchasers. This way, you keep the full jacket price minus the cost price. Many books are now only produced as eBooks and are advertised on authors' websites for direct sales to purchasers. The cost of production is low and once again, the decisions for cost price, cover, formatting, etc., are your own. 

Recommended: Any budding author should invest in The Writers & Artists Yearbook or the Writer's Handbook as they both have a wealth of imperative information for writers and include Agents and Publishers and their specialities and how best to contact them. 

Wendy Stokes provides workshops on 'How to get your book published!'