Jenny Hart photo by Kenny Braun
Crafting a Business by Jenny Hart
The deal with book deals
By Jenny Hart
Published: December 5th, 2007 | 12:00am
Dear Jenny,
I have been a fan of yours for a while, and I love everything you have done with your company. How did you get your book, Sublime Stitching, published? Did you get an agent or just submit it yourself? Thanks for being such an inspiration!
— Brenda Carrasco of Grand Junction, Colorado
I really appreciate the kind words (and I hope my mother is reading this). Now, lemme see what I can tell you about the wonderful world of book publishing. I’m happy to tell you how it happened for me, but I’ll be honest: it’s not easy.
Ah, the prestige of being a published author. The thrill of seeing your words on glossy paper next to lavishly photographed layouts of your work. Quipping to your lunch date as your cell phone rings: “Gotta take this. It’s my agent/editor calling.” Being sent on a cross-country tour to promote your book to breathless crowds clasping a copy of your tome to their chest as they wait in line for you to autograph a copy. Sitting back and collecting royalty checks for all eternity. Having your very own, sexy ISBN number.
This is what most of us imagine when we think of the perks of being published authors. While this may be true for the most successful of authors (and usually those who’ve published a trade paperback of the crime thriller or scandalous memoir genre), it’s rather different for those of us who publish books on crafting, art, or other creative endeavors that involve fancy layouts, glossy photos, and extensive how-tos.
The picture is more like this: endless revisions with your editor(s), white-knuckle deadlines (being creative on demand ain’t easy), release dates that extend well beyond a year (or longer) after you’ve turned in your project. And you don’t get paid until after the advance has been earned back from sales of the book. I can also tell you about the times I’ve sat at a book table, Sharpie in hand, ready to sign books, only to have someone ask “Where’s the bathroom?” Or how about the time I showed up to a crowd of four people (and learned the bookstore didn’t do any promo)? These are my horror stories, when I’ve also enjoyed large gatherings with 100-plus (who knew smiling could be so exhausting?).
Before this column reads like it’s squashing hopes and dreams, I must say that publishing a book can be accomplished in many different ways. There’s really no shame in self-publishing, especially if complete control over how your book looks is important to you, and you have the resources to pull it all together. The missing key elements is selling the book and distribution.
Have your heart set on landing a publisher? Well, if you are OK with numerous rejection letters from editors and agents alike, then forge on. If you are thinking a book deal is a quick way to get big money and will instantly lead to greater opportunities, then make sure you get the real picture of how much time, money, and effort goes into making a book happen.
It’s extremely difficult, and becoming increasingly difficult to land a book deal with a bona-fide publishing house unless you already have an established name as an author, TV personality, or designer. Which, if you view books as a way to establish your name, presents a very chicken-and-egg conundrum. The good news is that you have more tools than ever for showing off your work and establishing a following that appeals to a publisher: the Internet. If you can show that you have a huge following on your blog or if you’ve managed to get an article published in a magazine (“Tattoo Your Towels” was the name of the first how-to article I wrote), then you might have a strong start to attracting an editor for a project.
As for how it happened to me, it’s kind of like explaining how a person got hit by lightning. The short answer is: I was extremely fortunate to be approached by a publisher who wanted me specifically for a project. Then, deal in hand, I got myself a literary agent. But this didn’t happen before I was rejected numerous times, including initial rejections from my current publisher and my own agent. No kidding! (I don’t hold it against them, though.)
The longer version goes like this: I was approached by a publishing house in Europe that wanted to work with me on a project. This wasn’t entirely out of the blue — I’d been running my company for almost two years and had earned national and international press. They asked me to draft a proposal, which is standard, so I did. Only thing was that I’d never written a book proposal before. Mad, frantic research ensued, and in about three weeks I had a 32-page proposal drafted for my dream book. I was so proud of it. I thought, “Heck, I should see if other publishers are interested in this great book and let them fight over it!” I submitted the requested proposal to the publisher in Europe, and let them know at the same time that I’d also submitted the proposal to another house. Which, turned out to be a mistake. I was told flatly in response that our working relationship was thereby over (for the indignity of sharing my proposal with another publisher). I felt shocked and disappointed, and this actually was a pretty harsh response — I mean, we had no formal agreement and I was curious to see who else was interested in what I had to offer. Hmpf. I wasn’t going to just proverbially get hitched to the first cute face that came along.
Anyway, I’d scored a completely un-owed favor from BoingBoing editor Mark Frauenfelder, who personally sent my proposal to his editor (thank you, Mark!). I felt like a shoe-in! I just knew that this other offer would come through. I was feelin’ all puffed up and cocky. And then, I got the nicest, most encouraging rejection letter from the editor you could hope to get. I felt like a heel. I’d misplayed my hand with one publisher and got soundly rejected from another. To top it off, the rejection letters from potential literary agents I’d been contacting starting filtering in.
I went from total elation to total bummer. This was going to be much, much harder than I thought. I decided I wasn’t ready to pursue publishing a book and went back to focusing on my company, Sublime Stitching. Then, six months later, I heard from another editor at the same publisher who’d just turned me down, asking me to do a project. I went back to one of the literary agents who’d rejected me (but who impressed me the most), and she signed me on to her list of clients. It was nothing I could have orchestrated with all the planning in the world. Just a lot of luck, hard work, rejection, kindness of strangers, and yeah, I’d like to think I had something special to offer. Founding a company that got a lot of press was a helpful start. But then the really hard work began. Putting the project together. We’ll save that for another column.
Enough about how it happened to me. If you want to get started on trying to land a book deal, or an agent, there is one thing you must do in both cases, no matter what: Write a book proposal. No getting around it. I have three titles with my publisher, and I still have to draft a proposal for any projects I want to do. Also, a book proposal is expected to be written in a very specific format reflecting research, competitive titles, and why you are the best and brightest person for the job. There are some great books out there that tell you how to do it step by step (see end of my column for resources).
Why did I go to an agent if I already had a project offered to me? A literary agent can read a contract in ways that you can’t, is bad cop to your good cop if any issues arise between you and your editor, and they know how to negotiate for more money. If you don’t really know the ins and outs of publishing, you want a good agent by your side guiding you through the process to help you avoid any pitfalls in the process. However, I know plenty of authors who work successfully without agents. It’s a personal choice, understanding that your agent will typically get 10% to 15% of anything a publisher pays you.
Willing to sacrifice money for creative control? Then work with a book packager. A book packager will work with you to put a book completely together as a finished project that you will then pitch to a publisher. You might also opt to work with a packager after you’ve landed the deal, depending on what the publisher wants for the final project. The upside to working with a packager is that you maintain more creative control and enjoy the capabilities of an experienced book designer. The downside is you will be responsible for paying the packager (which often gets 50% of the book-deal royalties included), the photographer, illustrator, ghost-writer, copy editor … anyone and everyone who helps put the book together. Such costs can easily reach into the many thousands of dollars, and there’s no guarantee that you will recoup those costs in sales.
So do your research: research literary agents who work in the area you want to write about, research publishers big and small. Ask yourself: what is my book about? Why would it be unique? Why would I be the best person to write it? Why do I want this or that publisher to put it out? Would they be the best publisher for this title? Will it fit in with their other books? Because they will ask you those very questions themselves. If you can’t paint a strong and clear picture then, hello slush pile (where orphaned proposals go to die).
But the best piece of advice I can give you is simply to learn how to write a book proposal, because it forces you to examine, in excruciating detail, all of those questions. I also took a peek at what was online (I Googled “how to publish a book”) and found a lot of chest-thumping articles about how to write the next best-seller and other distractions you don’t need to worry about at this stage. The two resources I relied on exclusively for putting together my first proposal and navigating relationships with agents and editors were these (be sure to get recent editions as each of these books are frequently update to reflect industry relevant information and standards):
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published
By Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sander
• How to Write a Book Proposal
By Michael Larsen
So now you know a little bit more of what you’ll be dealing with if you try to land a book deal. But don’t feel too discouraged. Books are pretty wonderful things and we’ll always need more of them.
—
This is the second installment of Jenny Hart’s “Crafting a Business” column, which is published every fifth day of each month — except for the January 2008 column, which will be published January 15, 2008. Send your questions to askjenny [at] sublimestitching.com.
Issue #30
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Jep (9 months)
A very interesting article - Thanks for sharing! www.creativecrafteruk.co.uk
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