I COULD WRITE A BOOK – BUT WHO’D PUBLISH IT?
The Book With The Answer
Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers & Literary Agents, by Jeff Herman. 13th Edition, Prima Publishers, Roseville, CA. 2002 892 pp. (Paper). (To order click here)
Writing a book always seems to be a great idea, until you try it. First you have to get an idea. Then you have to outline the idea chapter by chapter. Then you have to get a publisher. Getting an agent will help, unless you’re a first time author, in which case it may help to be writing about a cure for the common cold, and then be lucky enough to get an agent who understands what you’re talking about, and sees a market potential for it. And then you have to write the thing. As the author of about a dozen books, my response to people who ask me how to do it is that it’s like digging your way out of Alcatraz with a purloined spoon.
And finally your write the book, and the publisher prints it, and maybe gets it into a few book stores. And then you’re pretty much on your own.
Still, a successful book program for an accounting or law firm goes a long way to establish reputations based on expertise.
Now, if you still really want to do it after this, the best place to start is with Jeff Herman’s book. Herman, himself an agent, keeps getting better and better. Originally a relatively simple compendium of publishers and agents, this new edition of his Writer’s Guide goes well beyond that to include extensive and realistic (which means real stuff, and not puff) on every aspect of publishing, from how to find an agent to what to do when the contract comes, and beyond. This is the real stuff.
The listings of publishers are comprehensive, and in great detail. In recent years, there’s been a great deal of consolidation among publishers, with a rash of mergers and acquisitions turning the industry topsy-turvey. More of the old great publishing names are now part of conglomerates, which are, of course, bottom line oriented. There are still smaller publishing houses, but their lists are limited. Moreover, personnel in publishing – a notoriously underpaid, and therefore migratory group of mostly wonderful people -- are constantly in motion and changing jobs, which makes an up-to-date publication like this a necessity.
Listed are publishers in the U.S. and Canada, university presses, and religious, spiritual and inspirational publishers.
What Herman does is describe each publisher’s business, including recent publications, so that you don’t find yourself trying to sell a business book to a cook book publisher. Listed for each entry are the editorial staff, which is the heart of the matter. However, few publishers will accept an unsolicited manuscript. There are exceptions, of course, but every publisher is so inundated by unsolicited manuscripts that it’s unlikely that many of them will get read. Some publishers are also wary of plagiarism suits brought by people who insist that the publisher’s latest book was based on an idea stolen from the plaintiff’s rejected manuscript. That’s why, despite what is often a love-hate relationship between the two, publishers will most often refuse to look at any manuscript not submitted by an agent. For the new author, it’s a Catch 22 situation – you can’t get a publisher without an agent, and many agents will not accept a beginning author who hasn’t been published.
Agents are a mysterious crew. The good agent knows a great deal, ranging from a sound understanding of the subject matter of the books their authors write, to a strong editorial sense. They know how to write a book proposal – an art form in itself -- and which publishers are likely to be intrigued by it. They know how to pitch and how to sell and how to negotiate a contract. They know how to get larger advances. The best agents are tough negotiators. Agents come from a variety of backgrounds, almost all of which are various aspects of publishing itself. They may have been editors, or in the rights or the marketing department of a publisher. Julie Hill, for example, had been my editor for some writing I did for Microsoft. Now she’s an agent. The best ones understand a great deal about how publishing works. And that’s why the good agents earn their fee.
Herman says a great deal about each agent listed, and invites them to say a great deal about themselves. The resulting information can be both crucial and intriguing. It’s important to know the areas each agent specializes in, the extent of their experience, some of the books they’ve sold and the publishers they deal with. That information is included for virtually all of the approximately 200 agents listed. But included in most cases are some personal stuff, like hobbies, to give you a flavor of each agent’s personality. There are more than 200 agents, of course, but some, apparently, choose not to be listed because they feel they don’t want to invite inquiries from writers they don’t know. Every trade has its royalty, it seems.
One of the significant contributions Writer’s Guide makes is a series of articles on the important aspects of getting published, each of which is worth the price of the book alone. Articles include how to deal with unagented and unsolicited manuscripts, query letters, a sample book proposal, dealing with rejection (don’t take it personally – every publisher has its own arcane rules and budgetary limits that often preclude publishing the best of manuscripts), how agents work, self publishing, book doctors (real and scam artists), contacts – really everything you need to know if you’re going to enter this jungle.
Included also are lists of web sites relevant to writing and getting published and a glossary of terms. Herman doesn’t miss a bet.
Most writers tend not to want to read a lot about how to write. But I’ll bet there are not a great many widely published authors (including me) who don’t have this book handy. Don’t even think of writing a book without reading Jeff Herman’s Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers & Literary Agents first.