Advance Prep for a Relationship with a Publisher
Lay the groundwork for a fruitful collaboration before you pitch your nonfiction book
This article is part of a series that adapts and excerpts my entire book, Pitch What’s True: A Publisher’s Tools for Navigating Your Best Path to a Published Nonfiction Book (Everything Goes Media, 2019). Find an index to the series here.
A Word on This New Relationship
A business relationship is a relationship. Finding a publisher is the beginning of establishing a long-term business relationship. Keep that forefront in your mind, as well as everything you know about positive, healthy, mutually beneficial relationships, as you continue through the process.
Know that you are bringing something specific and valuable to the table…and so are the publishers. Do they want what you’re offering? Do you want what they’re offering? What sort of relationship are you looking for here, and how can you do your share to create that as you go?
Respect yourself, respect your book, and respect the publisher/s. Nurturing high-quality connections and partnerships as you go about this process is one of the keys to publishing success — and one of its rewards as well.
