Adventures in Publishing

You want to publish a book. You’re a writer, illustrator, photographer, quilt diva or kitten enthusiast. You’re bursting at the seams (quilt pun intended) with ideas, but you haven’t the slightest idea of where to get started. You ask questions like, “How do I get published?” “Do I need an agent?” “Do I need to be Internet famous?” “Is traditional or self-publishing better?” And on and on and on.

All great questions. I’m no expert, but I’ve been on this side of the fence for a few years. Now I’m just days away from the release of my second book, The Roommate Book (it’s an illustrated guide to making the most of roommate life. But it’s fun. Oh! It’s fun!). I’m not trying to be dramatic here, but the experience of working on both books really changed my life. Because of this and the fact that publishing is probably more accessible than you think, I want to share what I know about getting started.

NOTE: This is not a persuasive essay on book writing or traditional publishing. It’s just written from my experience, and my experience is with publishers. Let the Q&A begin!

“Should I self-publish or go the traditional route?”

It just depends on your objectives for your project. Is it to make money? Is it a labor of love? Are you trying to reach a lot of people? What is your timeline? Do you already have an engaged following? (P.S. both types of publishing can work well for each of these answers depending on your situation. Isn’t this so helpful?).

Traditional publishers offer an advance as well as royalties after you make back said advance (royalties might look something like 10% or $1 per book sold). They also offer marketing, publicity, street cred and a sales team to put your book into major stores like Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters and Target (Note: having a publisher does not guarantee you’ll be in all of these stores, but you’ll probably be in some. And not having a publisher means you probably won’t be in any.) One downside to having a traditional publisher might be not having creative control (but don’t let this stop you—my editor has supported all of my wacky roommate ideas), not making as much money as self-publishing and essentially working with somebody else’s timeline.

Self-publishing offers no advance, but you keep most of the profits. Because of this, you could make more money (if you sell a ton of books) or less money (if you don’t). You work on your own timeline and make all the decisions, for better or worse. When writers do gain the $$ and notoriety from self-publishing, it doesn’t come out of thin air: they’ve built a platform that has garnered tons of loyal fans, and they’ve spent a lot of time marketing. Here’s a great article on self-publishing the right way, by one of my favorites, James Altucher.

“How did you find your publisher/agent?”

I would never recommend submitting your book idea directly to a publisher (unless it was a small university press, but that’s talk for another day). Try to sign with a literary agent. I found mine on Agent Query. It’s a fantastic resource for learning how to write a query and finding agents who fit your genre (Note: The query is the pitch to agents and the proposal is the pitch to publishers). There are hundreds and hundreds of agents, so it’s important to narrow your search. Another great way to find one is to look in the acknowledgements in the back of books you think that yours would sit next to on a shelf. Authors almost always thank their agent and editor. You can also check out the book, Guide to Literary Agents. Besides it spelling out everything you need to know about finding an agent, the back has an index that lists them by genre.

Finding an agent is often times the hardest part. Once you have one, congrats! You will work together to submit a proposal to the publishers that are a good fit for your book. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.

You won’t pay your agent or publisher any money at any point. Nobody gets paid until you have a book deal. This is partly why it’s such a big deal to sign with an agent—they’re working strictly on commission. If you find one who wants to represent you, then your project is worth their time. So much so, that they’re willing to put in the hours before getting a paycheck. Usually agents receive a 15% commission. For those of you who wonder, “I could just do this on my own and keep that 15%,” I don’t think you can. You might, but a good agent will protect you, fight for your rights, set up proper expectations, negotiate for you and probably make you a lot more money.

Agents rule! And so do publishers!

“When approaching agents, do I already need to have an online presence?…Do I need to be popular?”

The quick answer is yes and maybe, but not necessarily. The longer answer is that publishers need to know that their author is invested in selling the book. You need to prove yourself. You have to show that you are the book’s #1 fan and that you’re not afraid to promote the heck out of it. If you don’t have a huge presence online, that’s okay, but the next best thing is showing that you’re invested in growth, or you have access to an audience (example: maybe you don’t have a huge newsletter, but you are connected to a few big journalists). Or maybe you don’t have an online presence or any special connections. That’s okay too!

When I was talking to agents about representing I’d Rather Be Short in 2012, I had 200 Twitter followers. Two agents didn’t care about this number; they said the idea was good enough to sell on its own. Another agent was skeptical and said, “In 2007, a good idea was good enough, but now publishers need to see followers and numbers.” It matters, but it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why Laurie signed with me, and that’s why I wanted to work with her. She was the most invested in my future and cared the least about my social media following. My only blog readers at the time were my mom and Facebook friends. I didn’t report the readership in my proposal (remember, the proposal is the pitch Laurie and I sent to publishers), but we did say that the traffic spiked whenever I posted a new I’d Rather Be Short drawing (this was true). It was sincere and it showed that even on a micro level, the project was gaining momentum.

Having a big following does make it easier for agents and publishers to say yes. It shows that you’re already committed to the project and there’s already a market for your work. T-Rex Trying started out as a popular Tumblr blog and has been a wildly successful as a published book. My pal, Alida Nugent also had her work on her blog, The Frenemy before it became a book (check out her latest book, You Don’t Have to Like Me. It’s really funny).

Every situation is different, but as a rule of thumb I’d say that you don’t need to have a huge following, but you do need to show that you’re able to put your book in front of a lot of eyes (or you will do everything in your power to do so).

“Should I post my work online first? Or keep it quiet until I find an agent and publisher?”

Again, there’s no right answer here. I’d suggest showing what you can without showing too much. You’ll hear arguments both ways. I say that because I think you can have your cake and eat it too. I posted a few I’d Rather Be Short drawings on my blog as a silly “side project” while I was looking for agents. I didn’t want people to know I wanted it to be a book because that was way too much pressure for my tender heart, but I do think accountability (think: 100 Day Project) and momentum are both really important (they were an integral part of my process). I’d lean more towards oversharing than under-sharing because 1. There are plenty of ideas to go around. 2. Nobody is going to steal your idea before you get to it and 3. Even if they did, you are not going to run out of good ideas. Tucker Max was rejected by over 500 agents, so he put his content online and it exploded. He soon had a book deal and remained on the NY Times Best Seller list for over 150 weeks.

Ultimately you know what the best route is for you and your project. The only thing you can do wrong is not do anything because you can’t decide what to do.

“How do I know if my idea is any good?”

Good is subjective. Are you interested in every book at Barnes & Noble? No, but every book in Barnes & Noble was good enough to be published, according to at least a few important decision-makers.

The question is, how do you know if your idea is good for publishing?

If you can sell a lot of books, it is good for publishing. This is a business.

Is your content already gaining traction? Perhaps you already have a project, series or blog post that is connecting with a lot of people. This is a good sign.

But what if what you have is a “very good idea”, but no exposure to prove that others think so too? Your turtle portraits haven’t gone viral (yet), but YOU think there’s something really special to them.

It helps to ask the simple question, “Who would buy this?” or better yet, “For whom could this make the perfect gift?” The Roommate Book is perfect for the gals headed to college or leaving college to live in a new city with a new roommate. The net can be cast as wide as “friendship” and as narrow as “high school graduation gift for girls.”

Not every book is super niche. Some books have a broader appeal, and that’s okay too. Those probably already connected with, or were sure to connect with a lot of people who thought it was really beautiful, funny, helpful or interesting.

I’ve had a lot of good and bad book ideas. My worst ideas weren’t strong because they didn’t have a specific audience. They weren’t so profound that they were perfect for everybody and not specific enough that they were good for that “somebody.”

“Do I need to have a complete manuscript before pitching agents or publishers?”

It depends on the book. Is it a novel? Yes, you need to complete it before pitching to agents. Is it non-fiction? No. You need enough to paint a clear picture of what the finished book will look like (and prove you really do know what you’re doing).

“But I want to write a children’s book. Does that need to be complete before submitting?”

If you’re both the author and illustrator, great. Make sure the whole book is written (and have a few sample pages illustrated). If you are the writer and not the illustrator, do not submit your query with somebody else’s illustrations. It might seem counterintuitive, but it will actually hurt your case. Yes, even if your friend is a “real illustrator”. Publishers work with illustrators directly and they do not want your submission with the art (again, the exception is if you are both author and illustrator). Another couple of points from my agent, Laure: 1) Do not rhyme. If you do, it will be an uphill battle, no matter how clever you think you are. 2) Don’t make the book a big moral lesson. At the end of the day, parents and kids want to enjoy the book. Make sure it’s fun.

“Where do I even start?”

1. Start somewhere. Starting somewhere now is better than starting somewhere later. You’re already here, so now you can move on to #2.

2. Really, just do something. Don’t wait to figure out how you’re going to publish before doing the work. Maybe for you this means uploading sketches to your blog to gauge a reaction without telling people your bigger plans. Maybe it means something else. But get started. There are folks who acquired book deals after all of their content was already available on the internet, and folks who—gasp—have never even Tweeted. Just do your thing and trust that if it’s a good idea, the route you take will not matter.

3. Look at agentquery.com or simply Google “how to write a query letter for [insert type of book]”. Figure out what you need to submit to agents, then find the agents and show them your stuff. You don’t need to know how to do anything but the thing in front of you. Do this and the other steps will illuminate themselves along the way.

Now get out of here. It’s time to get started.

Godspeed.