More and more fellow authors are contacting us and asking for direction. Since we know what it is like to get rejection notices or just be turned away, we prefer to be helpful. Especially since we have learned a lot in the last couple of years. There are now a lot of resources out there if you can find them easily. Here is our answer to queries which we hope will save people a lot of time, money, and frustration.
Dear Fellow Author:
The publishing world has changed dramatically in recent years and we are getting increasing numbers of inquiries asking for help in finding agents and publishers. We would like to be helpful and offer the following information.
Finding an Agent:
Unfortunately, publishers, by and large, are not talking to authors. An agent is needed if there is to be access to traditional publishers. Conventional advice has been that the author needs to buy books such as Writers Market to get information about agents. At the 2005 Book Expo in New York we received important confirmation of what we had concluded
.
The books are generally considerably out of date and filled with agents who are established and are not looking for new clients. They have to keep their names out there but rarely get new clients in this fashion.
We wasted years pursuing agents in this fashion and one speaker at Book Expo gave valuable advice. He said that authors should go to and subscribe to their service which tracks deals recently made. It costs only $20 per month and it should be screened for several months. You are looking for the new and hungry agents who probably have split off from longer established agents. You can compare the names you find with the lists in the books such as Writers Market and identify who is new and, therefore, promising.
Getting Published:
The book world is now crowded with authors. The agents lament that they are getting more and more submissions of lower and lower quality. Before you even pursue an agent you MUST have a finished manuscript which has been worked on by an experienced editor. You need to try editors by hiring them to edit at least a portion of your manuscript. Try them out until you find someone you are comfortable working with. Ask what books they have edited that have been published. You may want to get some of those books to see what you think. Ask for references and call people the editor has worked for.
Even then you may find that you may have to take alternative means to get your work published. There are several possibilities.
The first thing you have to do is to decide what kind of work you have and what your goals are. Nonfiction is much easier to sell than fiction because it often relates to a niche which greatly affects marketing. Then you have to look at your audience. If your audience is highly focused or maybe even family and friends, then you have a whole different set of objectives. Once you have a clear focus, you have a number of options.
1. Subsidy Presses - Be very careful here. They used to be called vanity presses and they may cost you a lot of money. Most books published by subsidy presses sell on average about 80 books, mostly to the author. We do not recommend this route.
2. E-books - They have not yet come into their own but we are convinced that they will become important. One of the big barriers is the means by which they can be read. But recently Sony came out with an instrument which shows the promise of what may be coming. E-books are now being distributed by companies such as Lightning Source and show promise. One of the big attractions here is that the cost of production is low. There is no printing although a well designed “cover” is important.
3. Print on Demand – It’s not a bad place to begin. The costs have come down and they are especially useful if you do not need a lot of copies for a specialty work. You can have as few as 25 copies printed and they can look quite good. A good place to test the waters.
4. Self Publishing - Many of us are going this route. It offers the author complete control over the process although it is labor intensive. You still have to purchase professional expertise and you have to plan to spend some money on a cover, a website, editing, formatting and proof reading.
And then we come to marketing. Even if you have a traditional publisher you have to be prepared to do the marketing. It is a time consuming process and requires guidance and help. It is not possible to overemphasize the importance of the marketing piece.
Fortunately, there is a lot of information on all of the above out there. Here are some resources which you need to explore and absolutely must read in detail.
Self Publishing Organizations -
Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) - Go to and get acquainted. They offer a lot of information no matter which direction you decide to take. Join their online Yahoo group. We went to their conference last year in Denver and there was lots of excellent marketing information. Worth attending if you think self publishing is the route you want to take.
You can do research through the site and the exchanges on the site offer invaluable information. The list moms on the site are knowledgeable professionals who volunteer their services and many of them are a resource. The kind of issues discussed vary from day to day but over time you will find threads which are very helpful.
Publishers Marketing Association (PMA) - A group which is similar to SPAN. They tend to be oriented to slightly larger publishers but they also offer a “college” at Book Expo each year which provides a lot of information.
Books-
Here is a short list of other resources which will give you detailed information on all aspects of getting published. There are many of them but here are a few which are particularly helpful. Read their books cover to cover.
Dan Poynter - Go to his website and take a look at his books. He is a great resource.
Marilyn Ross - Go to and take a look at what she has to offer. She is heavily involved in SPAN.
John Kremer - Go to and look at his offerings. He is one of the big names in the field.
We hope you are not feeling overwhelmed at this point but what we have outlined relates to today’s reality. Using the above resources will save you time, money and disappointment. We wish you success.
Dear Fellow Author:
The publishing world has changed dramatically in recent years and we are getting increasing numbers of inquiries asking for help in finding agents and publishers. We would like to be helpful and offer the following information.
Finding an Agent:
Unfortunately, publishers, by and large, are not talking to authors. An agent is needed if there is to be access to traditional publishers. Conventional advice has been that the author needs to buy books such as Writers Market to get information about agents. At the 2005 Book Expo in New York we received important confirmation of what we had concluded
.
The books are generally considerably out of date and filled with agents who are established and are not looking for new clients. They have to keep their names out there but rarely get new clients in this fashion.
We wasted years pursuing agents in this fashion and one speaker at Book Expo gave valuable advice. He said that authors should go to and subscribe to their service which tracks deals recently made. It costs only $20 per month and it should be screened for several months. You are looking for the new and hungry agents who probably have split off from longer established agents. You can compare the names you find with the lists in the books such as Writers Market and identify who is new and, therefore, promising.
Getting Published:
The book world is now crowded with authors. The agents lament that they are getting more and more submissions of lower and lower quality. Before you even pursue an agent you MUST have a finished manuscript which has been worked on by an experienced editor. You need to try editors by hiring them to edit at least a portion of your manuscript. Try them out until you find someone you are comfortable working with. Ask what books they have edited that have been published. You may want to get some of those books to see what you think. Ask for references and call people the editor has worked for.
Even then you may find that you may have to take alternative means to get your work published. There are several possibilities.
The first thing you have to do is to decide what kind of work you have and what your goals are. Nonfiction is much easier to sell than fiction because it often relates to a niche which greatly affects marketing. Then you have to look at your audience. If your audience is highly focused or maybe even family and friends, then you have a whole different set of objectives. Once you have a clear focus, you have a number of options.
1. Subsidy Presses - Be very careful here. They used to be called vanity presses and they may cost you a lot of money. Most books published by subsidy presses sell on average about 80 books, mostly to the author. We do not recommend this route.
2. E-books - They have not yet come into their own but we are convinced that they will become important. One of the big barriers is the means by which they can be read. But recently Sony came out with an instrument which shows the promise of what may be coming. E-books are now being distributed by companies such as Lightning Source and show promise. One of the big attractions here is that the cost of production is low. There is no printing although a well designed “cover” is important.
3. Print on Demand – It’s not a bad place to begin. The costs have come down and they are especially useful if you do not need a lot of copies for a specialty work. You can have as few as 25 copies printed and they can look quite good. A good place to test the waters.
4. Self Publishing - Many of us are going this route. It offers the author complete control over the process although it is labor intensive. You still have to purchase professional expertise and you have to plan to spend some money on a cover, a website, editing, formatting and proof reading.
And then we come to marketing. Even if you have a traditional publisher you have to be prepared to do the marketing. It is a time consuming process and requires guidance and help. It is not possible to overemphasize the importance of the marketing piece.
Fortunately, there is a lot of information on all of the above out there. Here are some resources which you need to explore and absolutely must read in detail.
Self Publishing Organizations -
Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) - Go to and get acquainted. They offer a lot of information no matter which direction you decide to take. Join their online Yahoo group. We went to their conference last year in Denver and there was lots of excellent marketing information. Worth attending if you think self publishing is the route you want to take.
You can do research through the site and the exchanges on the site offer invaluable information. The list moms on the site are knowledgeable professionals who volunteer their services and many of them are a resource. The kind of issues discussed vary from day to day but over time you will find threads which are very helpful.
Publishers Marketing Association (PMA) - A group which is similar to SPAN. They tend to be oriented to slightly larger publishers but they also offer a “college” at Book Expo each year which provides a lot of information.
Books-
Here is a short list of other resources which will give you detailed information on all aspects of getting published. There are many of them but here are a few which are particularly helpful. Read their books cover to cover.
Dan Poynter - Go to his website and take a look at his books. He is a great resource.
Marilyn Ross - Go to and take a look at what she has to offer. She is heavily involved in SPAN.
John Kremer - Go to and look at his offerings. He is one of the big names in the field.
We hope you are not feeling overwhelmed at this point but what we have outlined relates to today’s reality. Using the above resources will save you time, money and disappointment. We wish you success.
posted by Roger | 7:54 AM
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