I spent last weekend at the South Carolina Writers Association StoryFest Confereence. Here’s some of what I learned there. Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary Services agency gave a dynamite workshop on the publishing business.
Successful writers know the industry’s wants and needs:
- Agents: want to impress the editor and make $$
- Editors: want to get promoted to make more $$
- Publishing Board: wants to make $$ for owners and get bonuses
- Sales Team: want to get commissions and bonuses
- Bookstores: want to make $$ for store to pay the bills
- Readers: want to be educated and/or entertained
The writer must keep market viability in mind at all times. Your books must sell at least 10,000 copies in print to impress an agent (2,000 paperback and/or 5,000 audio). An agent is also not going to be impressed by a low Instagram or TikTok following; you need at least 300,000 followers to get a five-figure advance on your book!
Here’s the chain of command:
- The writer “sells” the book to the agent
- The agent sells it to the editor
- The editor sells it to the editorial director
- Then the publishing board must be convinced. 80-85% of readers are women, but the board is almost all men! A publishing board consists of the Editorial Director, Sales*, Marketing/PR, Finance/Accounting*, Production, Distribution, Art Department, and (with the final say), the Publisher. [* denotes the biggest votes]
To sell that agent (and so on up the chain), you need Proof of Concept (an RND process):
- Is there a market for this book?
- Does the author have anything that will make the publisher’s job easier?
- Does the publisher have a track record selling books like this?
- Do they have staff resources to do a good job with this book?
- Can the publisher afford to do this book and will they recoup their money in a year?
