Let’s talk about getting a book out in traditional publishing, and how that differs from Indie publishing. In both types of publishing, the author writes & rewrites & revises & gives the book to beta readers for critique & revises some more. That’s how a book gets written. pic.twitter.com/sOPsU6TRmS
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
After the book is considered “perfect,” i.e., there are no more suggested changes from beta readers and the author reads the ms several times and finds nothing to change, the writer has to determine if s/he wants to be traditionally published. If so, s/he has to decide on a genre
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
You have to know your book’s genre & intended audience before you query any agents since you should only query agents who represent your genre. As far as I know, no agents represent poetry because the books don’t sell well. If you do poetry, you might as well Indie publish.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If you write short stories, essays, or poetry, you should send them out for consideration in online publications. Agents and editors want to know that you already have an audience. If asked, you should be able to clearly define your audience, even if it changes for each book.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
When you are ready to query an agent, you need to have a well-written query letter. No agent will see your query as soon as you send it. All traditional publishers and agents have assistants and interns who screen everything first. Poorly written queries never reach an agent.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Some literary agents only accept queries with permission, i.e., the author has already been represented elsewhere and their current agent is retiring and has specifically recommended a few new agents to the author. You cannot lie about this: publishing is a pretty small business.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Sometimes agents will go to major writing conferences & hear Pitches or read query letters. Usually, you get about 5 minutes with an agent, who is one of the most booked people at any writing conference. Have your Pitch AND query letter already written and practice your delivery.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
I don’t know of any agents who read more than the query letter (if it makes it to agent) and the first sentence of the book. If they like the first sentence, they’ll read the first paragraph. If they like that, they’ll probably read the first page.
Don’t @ me on this to complain
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If an agent at a conference likes your Pitch and your query letter (and has time to listen to a very short synopsis that intrigues them), they will note your name and tell you how to address them in your query letter so that the letter and the sample chapters make it to them.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Your query letter must show you are a good writer, i.e., it MUST be well written. It should demonstrate your experience at writing AND being published, as well as your knowledge of your book’s intended audience AND of other books in that genre to which yours will be compared.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Your query letter should be accompanied by your Publication Vita, & you better have lots of things on it. Online and print publications are all acceptable. Your own blog counts as publication as do guest posts on others’ blogs. You need to have excerpts or other things published.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Your query letter should also include the first 25-35 pages of the book. THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK. Not the middle. Not the part you think is “best written.” Not the most dramatic. The beginning. That’s what readers see in samples. That’s what the agent will want. Get it right.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If the agent agrees to see your entire book, you’ll get a letter requesting it. You cannot send the entire ms until it is requested. If you do, it will be automatically rejected without being read. If the agent believes they can SELL your book to an editor, they’ll take you on.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
An agent makes their living by selling books to editors in traditional publishing Houses. Agents make 10-20% (a few request 25%). The agent then makes up a Pitch for the book for select editors and sends the Pitch, along with your query letter and publication vita, to editors.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Agents & editors do lots of business over lunch & dinner. It’s their jobs, after all. If an agent agrees to look at your book, the agent messengers it over or emails it to the editor’s assistant. The editor will read the first sentence. If they like it… you know how this goes.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
By the way, you are the one who pays for any messenger service, copying charges, or long-distance phone calls. It will be in your contract with the agent. Your agent will ask for the right to represent you exclusively on that book. They won’t send it out to editors w/o a contract
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Unless the editor has their own Imprint within the publishing House & is independent, the editor will not be able to make the agent an offer on your book. The editor will share the book with fellow editors who may like it. The editor will Pitch book to an editorial board meeting.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
At the editorial board meeting (at HarperCollins, this only happened once a month), all editors will agree on how much to offer for book, based on what they think its potential sales might be. All editors know how much it costs to print books, based on hardcover/paper & pages.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
There is some leeway in a publication offer, but I’m not privy to details. My agent said I would get at least $4K for my first novel but that she would try to talk the editor up to $7K. When the editor makes an offer for the book, the agent is the one who agrees — not the author
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
After the book is sold, you then go through all the editing from the traditional publishing House. This is NOT developmental editing. Unless you are already a bestseller changing genres, any book you sell is considered complete and ready to be published when it gets to the agent.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If you don’t know what the different kinds of editing for a book are, read my Book Marketing Chat in my pinned tweet. If you don’t know, you need to learn asap. Agents will not “fix” your book or tell you how to make it better. Neither will House editors. That’s your job.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Once a book is in a traditional House, it goes to copy editors, line editors, proofreaders, designers (they do interior), and cover designers. All of this is approved by the acquiring editor, who also is contractually able to change your title to something more marketable.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Do I seem like I’m saying “sales” and “marketing” a lot in regards to your book? That’s because that’s what traditional publishing is all about. Making money from authors’ books. Nobody at the publishing House writes the books. They just package them and send them to bookstores.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Traditional publishing Houses do NOT market or sell books and they never have. They have always just metaphorically thrown books out into the world and waited to see what happens. IF they sent a book out for review by professional reviewers, the author paid for those copies.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Once a House sends out copies for review, NO ONE is allowed to contact the reviewers. If anyone contacts the reviewers, the book gets pulled. Readers used to rely on publications like NYTimes Book Review, but now, with Goodreads, Amazon, etc, readers can review books as well.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If you want your book traditionally published, you may get an Advance. Sometimes in contests, book publication is the prize. House always covers the costs of putting a finished manuscript into book form. If you want to Indie publish, you will have to learn all about publishing.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If you are a traditionally OR Indie published author, you have to do all the revisions on a book. If a book is accepted by agent & editor, you have to do the followup each time a House copy or line editor goes over the book & offers suggestions. It’s your job to do these things.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Every writer should learn every single step of publishing — just as they learn every single step of writing — even if they want to be traditionally published. Because now there are legitimate choices for writers who do not want to lose ALL control of their books.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Indie publishing is not something you do because you can’t get your book traditionally published. Indie publishing is a choice. It should be a conscious choice where you know what you’re getting into. You need to learn about publishing in order to make that choice wisely.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Indie publishing is your decision to retain control of your book AS A PRODUCT.
You decide on cover, design, necessary editing, printing, distribution. This is what traditional publishing pays for. Authors have always done their own marketing. Indie authors do/pay for ALL of this— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Indie publishing is a conscious decision to become a publisher as well as an author. It is not a second-best choice. It is the better choice. Indie publishing is an industry unto itself, just as traditional publishing is, so you need to learn that business and do your jobs well.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Traditional publishing covers manufacturing and distribution costs of book as product. Indie publishing requires the author to become a publisher and learn to do the publishing jobs themselves or to hire other professionals to do it.
Authors have always done their own marketing
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
I prefer Indie publishing. It gives me control over my own books. Most important, it allows me to see my own sale figures, something authors in traditional publishing cannot do. Though I have more expenses as an Indie author, I also keep more of my earned income.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
If you ever have questions about traditional or Indie publishing, please do ask. I was published by HarperCollins, HarperPerennial, Arcade, Story Press/Writer’s Digest, and 3 books were under contract with United Kingdom Authors Press when the ebook revolution came & saved us all
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Yes, it is. But in the past, authors literally had no other choice if they wanted their books to get into bookstores. Now, with ebooks and online bookstores, authors can control their own books and publishing life. https://t.co/U2V4NhmXAZ
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Traditional publishers control everything because they pay for everything. This is why authors need to reconsider traditional publishing as validation of themselves as authors. It’s not. Traditional publishing is about making money. Not about validating authors.
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
I didn’t say the author paid for professional reviews: I said the author paid for the copies of the book that were sent to the professional reviewers for consideration of reviews. The point is that the traditional publisher does not pay for these review copies: the authors do. https://t.co/dlCjSuUdos
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
By the time I was being published, no publishers actually sold any books. They were all sent to bookstores by the distributors who were hired by the Publishing Houses. Of course, online sales have changed many things, and some authors have their books online with their publishers
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
OMG! so true. Before I got traditionally published, I had no idea just how little control I’d have over my book. After retirement, I started my own literary publishing House (to publish other authors): I had to be registered w/ Lightning Source & Ingram to get books in bookstores https://t.co/blDjQxpiHR
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Or… budget for it & save your own money. It doesn’t cost anything to publish an ebook. You can learn to do the formatting (HTML) & cover yourself: you’d have to do the marketing anyway. Everything you learn costs you time but saves money. You pay for it all with money or time https://t.co/Txk1DkXAyH
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Being a writer means writing an awesome book, no matter the genre. Being an author means making your work available to the public (publishing), and even the most awesome books get some bad reviews. See the 1* reader reviews for the Bible or for Dickens’ Christmas Carol 🤪🤣 https://t.co/MMStdLYa90
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
Not if you learn to do it yourself. It took me 2 years to learn everything about paper books, and then I had to start over with ebooks, but I’ve never had to pay anyone to do it for me or for my authors at my House. I couldn’t afford it so I learned to do it myself. You can, too. https://t.co/TvAWWOKCCK
— Dr. Alexandria Szeman: #BelieveSurvivors (@Alexandria_SZ) July 2, 2019
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