77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected

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77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected

Written by Mike Nappa, available as e-book and print book at Amazon. The author’s experiences as acquisitions editor, marketing copywriter, and literary agent uniquely qualify him to write on this topic. He is also the author of more than 40 books and received more than 2,000 book rejections during his writing career!
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The book is divided into three sections: Editorial, Marketing and Sales Reasons for Rejection.  Starting with: “It takes less than a minute to reject your book” (by big publishers that is) Mike Nappa goes on with all the legitimate and also the silliest reasons your manuscript or book idea might be rejected.

As an author you might be able to work on many, such as marketing and your platform and following, however some of the reasons have nothing to do with the quality of your writing. 

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An editor is going to look at your proposal – and if it doesn’t meet certain editorial standards, it will go no farther. If it passes basic editorial scrutiny, an editor will then consider whether you have done your “marketing” homework — analyzed and defined your audience, established a platform, shown that you know how and why this book will sell. From there, the editor will need to convince the publisher that they can sell this book, and sell enough to merit the investment in its publication.
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Perhaps the clearest message that emerges from this book is that getting published is a lot of work. The job doesn’t end when you finish writing the last chapter. Publishers are in the business of selling a product, and it’s your job to convince them that your book will sell.
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Or maybe you will decide to author publish. After all you have to do your book marketing anyway, even if your book is accepted by a commercial publisher. “Success is the best revenge”  .

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 750 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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Weakness of the 5 Big Publishers

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… and what you can do better as an author-publisher.

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Large traditional publishers have relationships with book stores and book chains. They have publicists working for them to promote their books and editors to polish the final products. They have established relationships with their customers over many years or even decades. They submit books to all the major book awards. Imagine trying to research, compile, address, and pay for 200 give-away books and shipping just to put them in the hands of jurors. And I’m sure there are a lot more things that they do to get books to the readers.
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To learn where they miss the boat is to gain access to a market segment and marketing ideas that you might have overlooked.
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1. New York Publishers Don’t Think Outside the Mainstream
Publishers have particular criteria they look for in a successful book; the first is mainstream appeal, which is understandable since they have to appeal to a larger bookstore-driven market. If you have a book that is outside the mainstream, this is actually good news, unless you’re trying to find a major house to pick you up. The idea here is to understand that traditional publishing dominates the mainstream, but it’s the niches that tend to do very well. You’ll see these books in places like book clubs or the Writer’s Digest book collection and smaller, niche publishing houses.
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2. New York Publishers Don’t Do Consumer Research
Yes, often publishers do not do consumer research. How do publishers know what to publish? They tend to rely on bookstores to direct their attention, as well as trends. What does this mean for you? If you have access to consumer data, you are light years ahead of the big six. Sometimes just having a mailing list on your website or even having a website where you interact with your consumer is sufficient. If you have access to this data and you are publishing mainstream, you are a very valuable writer to any publisher out there. Having access to this data is crucial for most of us and seen as a bonus when a publisher is considering a manuscript.
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3. New York Publishers Don’t Publish to Niche Markets
Niche markets have no appeal to publishers and ironically, that’s where the trend of successful authors is headed: into the niches. Niches can be powerful but New York publishers stay away from them. Their entire model is set up to cater to mainstream product, so to slot some obscure, niche work in there would never work.
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4. New York Publishers Don’t Sell Direct to Consumers
Publishers don’t sell from their websites; many have tried and failed. Why? Because the publisher isn’t the brand, the author is. This is starting to change in some areas as publishers seek to bypass Amazon and gather their share of the consumer market. Most consumers don’t really identify with a publisher as much as they do an author or a trusted online shopping portal like Amazon or BN.com.
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5. New York Publishers Only Promote Their Authors to the Top 30 Media Markets
When publishers develop marketing plans for their books, they don’t look at markets that aren’t in the top 30.  Knowing the landscape and marketplace will position you for success and you likely won’t get caught off guard by a stumbling block or situation that could have been avoided. Know your market – the more you do, the faster you will succeed!
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Excerpts, re-blogged from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free eZine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 750 of them : )  if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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What Publishers Won’t Tell You

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Book Pile

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Eager looking forward to get a publishing contract or happy your received one?  Finding a publisher who will consider your book idea and getting your manuscript published is time-consuming and can often be a frustrating experience. Going with a big publisher is not easier than author-publishing. You will be surprised to learn about the following facts, sometimes the hard way:

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Your book has three months to fly off the shelves.
If your book does not sell in the first three months of its bookstore life, it will be remaindered and disappears from bookstores and could end up at “A Buck a Book”.  90 to 95% of books don’t pay back their advance. Royalty will only be paid if the advance is paid back. What you get upfront as an advance is usually all you will ever get.
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If you screw up on your first book, you’re out.
If you do well with it, publishers will be eager to see your next title. But if you don’t sell a lot of books, your agent or publisher will not want to read your manuscript when it comes time to offer your second book.
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Traditional publishing is very slow.
Unless you wrote a political tell-all, your book is going to ”be in the making” for two years or longer until it goes into the bookstores. You need to be sure your topic is timeless and that you will be interested in publicizing it years from now.
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Most likely your book will not be published in foreign countries.
Unless you have a savvy agent (preferably speaking several languages) who is trying to sell your book abroad, there is little chance that your publisher actively tries to find buyers in foreign markets.
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Your advance will be the only money you will see.
You can get as little as $5,000 or as much as $500,000, but either way, you’ll pay 15% of that to your agent, and the remainder will be paid in thirds or quarters over the next couple years.  So you first need to “earn out” the advance, before any royalties will be paid.
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Publishing is the slowest possible get-rich-quick scheme.
Breaking into big money publishing is like becoming a movie star - being talented definitely helps, but luck plays a big role and the odds might not be in your favor.
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Sorry, no publicity.
Until a decade or two ago, publishers did some marketing for books. Now they might send out some galleys and wait to see if anyone is interested. Then they focus all their publicity on the books they expect to be a bestseller. If you want your book to be a success, YOU will have to do all the publicity yourself!
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Books don’t sell themselves, as most writers sooner or later find out – often too late.  If you are interested in making money or selling your book for a long time, better consider e-books and self-publishing.  But in any way, marketing skills or at least the willingness to learn about marketing and PR to promote your book, are essential for an author. 

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites:  We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 750 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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How to Become a Self-Publisher – Step-by-Step Explained

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Dear Reader:
This weeks blog posts will be dedicated to one subject only: REAL Self-Publishing.
Keeping all your rights, being your own publisher, play by your own rules… During the last weeks you found quite a few articles here on this blog, related to “Author Beware!” What could happen if you contract with so -called “publishers”.
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Now I will show you HOW you can become a publisher yourself, without contracting, and how you
can publish on your own terms. And it is not theoretical: I began as a publisher of books and an
aviation magazine almost 30 years ago (print) and still do it (print and digital). I also have seen many authors giving the rights to their fabulous work away for a pittance and now are trapped their whole life in very unfavorable contracts.
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Why should you be your own publisher?
Consulting and coaching authors, I can see every day how difficult it is for authors when they don’t own full rights to their books, even their own book marketing efforts are limited and they have to rely on the mercy of their “publishers” where their books are sold, how long their book is listed, to which price it is listed etc. I know an author who is waiting for more than two years that her books are converted into e-books by her publisher.
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Being your own publisher

• it costs less than you think to publish
• you “shop around”, check quotes and decide your service providers
• you earn 100% of your net income, don’t have to split it with anyone else
• your book will be faster on the market, compared to traditional publishing
• you retain all rights, worldwide and forever for your books
• you can sell your book as long as you want – not as someone else dictates
• everything in the publishing process can be easily learned
• you will have to do your own marketing – no matter if you self-publish or go the traditional route
• author-publishing is about taking personal responsibility for the management and production of your writing content
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Listen to the interview with Hugh Howey,  author of “WOOL” where he explains the benefits of being an author-publisher of his (digital rights) e-books: “No compete clause, having more time to write and you can take your time until your books take off.”
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James Altucher, another bestseller author wrote in an article about self-publishing:
“I have published eight books in the past seven years, five with traditional publishers (Wiley, Penguin, HarperCollins), one comic book, and the last two I have self-published. In this post I give the specific details of all of my sales numbers and advances with the traditional publishers. Although the jury is still out on my self-published books, “How to be the Luckiest Man Alive” and “I Was Blind But Now I See” I can tell you, these two have already sold more than my five books with traditional publishers, combined.”
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James Altucher lists the con-site of going the traditional route:

• Advances are going to zero
• Marketing by trade publishers is almost zero
• Grueling long process until the book comes out
• No control over content and design

… and most amazing: “Often bookstores will look at what’s hot on Amazon and then order the books wholesale from the publishers” - which could be you!
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Do as most authors did before the 1920′s: they published their own books – before clever business men discovered this as a lucrative way of income. And told writers in the past “no self-respecting writer would self-publish. It’s for losers who couldn’t get their work published by a publishing house.” Why? To get the book rights and make the money – on the expense of authors.
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It seems self-publishers approach the publishing process more and more confidently, are well-informed, and aware of how much publishing will cost and how long it is likely to take. Finalizing a project you have long planned feels good, and it never was easier to be your own publisher!
This morning the British Guardian had an article, geared to traditional publishers, who are flocking to the London Book Fair,  about the cultural significance what’s going on in the publishing world.

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Read in the next blog posts:

• How to plan your publishing “business”
• Where to find all the necessary information – with lots of links
• Editing, cover design and book layout
• Printing and the distribution of your printed book
• Marketing, communication with readers and book promotions

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 710 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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Traditional Published Authors Interested in Self-Publishing

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A third of traditionally published authors are interested in self-publishing their next book,
according to a new survey from Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest. The survey, “What Authors Want: A Comprehensive Survey of Authors to Understand Their Priorities in the Self-Publishing Era”, queried nearly 5,000 aspiring, self-published, traditionally published and “hybrid” authors (authors who have both self-published and traditionally published). It was presented at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo.

This trend should be worrisome for traditional publishers, which are struggling to demonstrate to the marketplace that they add value to the publishing process in an era where anyone can publish a book.  Perhaps of even more concern is that two-thirds of hybrid authors are interested in self-publishing their next book. It’s not surprising given the context of the rest of the survey: Time and again, hybrid authors had relatively negative opinions about publishing companies — that they keep too much money, don’t “get” digital and, generally, don’t add much to their publishing process.

At the same time, when offered the opportunity to publish traditionally, nearly three-quarters of hybrid authors are interested and — also good news for publishers — about two-thirds of self-published authors are interested. The prestige of a traditional publisher, the wide distribution a publisher can generate and help with marketing were all reasons cited.

Read the whole article by Jeremy Greenfield: 
What Authors Want: A Third of Published Authors Interested in Self-Publishing Next Book

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My thoughts on this excerpt, especially the last sentence: 
Both ways of publishing have their positives and vice versa. However the perception of traditional publishing is often not up to date in public , as the way of book marketing has totally changed. Only celebrity authors get the full PR treatment, other writers have to fend for themselves, and they often do not realize that their books have only a maximum of three months to survive on the bookstores shelves until they will be pulled out and returned to the publisher or discarded. 
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The prestige of a traditional publishers is also dwindling, as some of them, such as Penguin / Random House ally with dubious POD’s, establishing a subsidiary in an attempt to jump onto the self-publishing bandwagon and find a way to fleece unsuspecting writers.
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Even the wide distribution a publisher can generate is something, authors can organize these days by themselves: as soon as they have at least three print books (not necessarily their own, they can also partner with other writers) they can establish a publishing firm and work with Lightning Source / Ingram and have their print books distributed worldwide.

E-books can easily be uploaded at Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Apple and a dozen more online retailers. Proof-reading, copy editing, editing, book layout, cover design, translations, printing… just about everything can be outsourced by the author – including book marketing and PR.

Best advice for any author is to familiarize themselves with every aspect of the publishing
process, to consult a professional to get a clear picture of the time/financial involvement and
advice from a contract lawyer before they sign up any publishing contracts including those of
Print on Demand Publishing.

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Be Spoiled for Choice …

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… how you want to learn book promotion.  And there is a lot to learn: Publishing evolves constantly and the success of your book(s) is very much depending on you, no matter if you self-publish or if you go with one of the big publishers. 

Choices in publishing, essentials of book / e-book layout and design, your platform and brand,  optimizing social media, use of non-traditional ways of book marketing, book distribution, online retailers, learning about  marketing on a shoestring… it’s over-whelming.  But not if you get help from someone who has studied e-publishing and marketing for many years – and practices it all.

Choose between weekend seminars or sign-up for customized online marketing training (special offer in December)  

… or plan ahead for a publishing and book marketing seminar on a 5-day Caribbean Cruise on board of the Carnival Breeze, a brand new cruise liner, taking off in Miami, FL, on November 3, 2013.  Make your travel plans soon, bookings for this offer start at the end of this month!  

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Hello, I’m Doris-Maria Heilmann with 111 Publishing.  We are not only publishers of traditional and eBooks, we extensively market our authors books.  We also host informative seminars for authors on the “art” of promotion. 

During the last years, publishing books has totally changed. Nowadays we writers need to build our own platforms, identify our own demographics, and find our own market share – even if we are with a traditional publishing house!  The profession has changed and we need to adapt in order to succeed.   

Our unique “Seminar-At-Sea” will help authors to:

• Strategically establish a writing career
• Create our own brand
• Identify our target readers
• Find out how to reach these readers
• Market and publicize our books on a budget
• Find free book publishing funding sources

Soon I will be announcing all the details of this spectacular opportunity.  But for now…mark November 3, 2013 on your calendars!!  Connect with your peers and learn invaluable information to enhance your writing career…all while having the time of your life on an exotic Caribbean Cruise!!

Doris-Maria Heilmann

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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How to Slice Your Book into Pieces

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…. and sell each separately

This advise was given to me by a very successful writer.  Here in a nutshell his ideas:  Think of your writing like you bake a cake. And what do bakeries and confiseries  do with a cake? They divide it into tiny slices and sell each piece separately.

In your case, your book is like the cake and has a secret ingredient that is called “Copyright.”  Every story you write, every novel, is a cake full of copyright.
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You can sell parts of it to:

• one publisher
• other parts to another publisher
• some parts to overseas markets
• other parts to audio
• others as e-Books or Singles
• to game companies
• maybe to Hollywood’s film industry
• or to web publishers …

The list goes on and on and on. But what you need to do:

• learn all about copyright to really understand this
• each piece can be a cash stream for you
• you don’t even have to have the same name to use, get a pen name or even several

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Each story, each novel is a piece of your writing business. If you spread them out over a number of names you have a pretty consistent cash flow streams working. You just need to offer them to people who will buy them.
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For example:
You sold German Translation Rights, and your contract with the German publisher limited your book to trade paper only. Now you can sell:

• German hardback rights
• German audio rights
• German mass market rights
• German film rights

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Your German publisher will have advances like your Canadian or American publisher, and there will be royalties. And then comes your Spanish sale. Your Russian. Your Italian. And so on and so on. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces of your work can be sold. Each piece is a cash stream. You just need to sell it. You create the inventory, your book, just once, but you can sell it for your entire life and your heirs can keep selling these pieces for seventy years past your death.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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Are You an Eligible US Author?

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Starting in January 2013, some famous authors become eligible to reclaim their work, such as Stephen King, Judy Blume or John LeCarre.  US publishers face the loss of their back lists as authors begin using the Copyright Act to reclaim works they assigned years ago, for example these New York Times bestsellers from 1978:
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• Jackie Oh  by Kitty Kelley
• Illusions  by Richard Bach
• Chesapeake  by James A. Michener
• Robert Kennedy and his Times  by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
• A Time for Truth  by William E. Simon
• Fools Die  by Mario Puzo
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Section 203 of the 1978 Copyright Act allows authors to cut away any contract after 35 years. It was set up to protect young artists who signed away future best sellers for a pittance.
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In many cases, before Section 203 came into law, the author had signed away their rights. The new law has fewer such loopholes and will also mean that nearly every book published after 1978 becomes eligible for termination. These new options mean authors have more leverage to walk away from their publishers altogether.
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Authors have a five-year window to exercise the right but must also provide advance notice at least two years but no more than 10 years beforehand.
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Many authors are simply unaware of their options, others may prefer to seek a sweeter deal with their publishers, rather than fly solo or risk a lawsuit. The Authors Guild and copyright lawyers can help with plain English explanations.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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What’s Hot in Young Adult writing:

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Are you writing Young Adult Novels?

Mandy Hubbard, is a literary agent with D4EO Literary, where she represents authors of middle grade and teen fiction, and is an author under the pen name Amanda Grace of Prada & Prejudice, You Wish, But I Love Him, Ripple, and several other YA novels.
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She lists what’s hot in YA at the moment:

• Contemporary, MOST ESPECIALLY with a hook. Think: THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, anything By Ally Carter, etc. The usual “coming of age” or romance is tough, but if you can find a way to zero in on a big hook, you’re in GREAT shape.
• Epic Fantasy – I’m seeing more success stories like Pub Crawl’s own THRONE OF GLASS
• Horror/Thriller. Editors are looking for this like crazy.
• Sci-Fi, particularly if it blends Sci-fi with something else – a murder mystery, a thriller, etc.
• Crossover YA. This is hard, because you can’t write it thinking “I want to appeal to adults and YA equally!” Write a damn good YA novel and adults will love it, but it has to happen organically.

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She also mentioned topics that always work:

• Intense romance for YAs… MANY of these do really well, but the genre in general don’t go as gangbusters as some of the flashier types
• Verse novels– these are sort of “sleeper hits” when they do well. They still can be tough, but there are certainly success stories in this subset of YA.
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And her most important advise for writers:
Remember, with ANY book, it’s all going to come down to the writing.  A less timely book with knock-down writing will win people over, but a hook won’t sell if the writing can’t back it up.  

More, and also the topics that are not as “hot” right now in Mandy Hubbard’s blog post “The State of YA Market“

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 570 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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Author Brittany Geragotelis: Six-figure Publishing Deal

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Remember the blog post about Wattpad I wrote in January?  This Canadian book “forum” has experienced explosive growth since its inception and has become the world’s most popular destination to upload and read e-books.

MacLeans Magazine now wrote about Wattpad: “Could Wattpad be the ‘killer app’ for aspiring writers? On Wattpad, anyone can write and get feedback—just ask Margaret Atwood”.

They explained that Brittany Geragotelis  was an aspiring author who had written six novels – all of them had been rejected by publishers. She worked as an editor at American Cheerleader magazine. In October of 2010, a digital venture from Toronto called Wattpad, asked her if she would promote the company in the magazine. She was a “big book nerd” and Wattpad—an interactive online forum where anyone can upload their own writing, and readers can read, comment on, and even contribute—was compelling. With nothing to lose, she wrote a novel and gave it away, one chapter at a time, for six months.

Within a week, the first chapter of “Life’s a Witch” had been read a couple of thousand times. By the time she finished writing and uploading the entire book, it had been read six million times. Half a year and 19 million reads later, Brittany Geragotelis had a new literary agent and a six-figure deal from Simon & Schuster.

Wattpad now has nine million visitors who spend about 2.2 billion minutes on the site each month 6.5 million “stories”— in 24 different languages—have been uploaded. Recently Margaret Atwood joint and published three new poems, Thriller Suite, on Wattpad.  Wattpad received more than US$17 million venture capital, some of that from Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang.
MacLean’s article

Calvin Reid from Publishers Weekly wrote: “YA Author with Huge Wattpad Fan Base Tries Self-Publishing” and “Swamped by Offers, Self-Pubbed YA Author Gets Agent and More”.

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 570 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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Call for Book Submissions

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Harper Voyager Global Digital Publishing, a global science fiction and fantasy imprint, takes for two weeks only – unagented – submissions, particularly novels written in the following genres:

• epic fantasy
• science fiction
• urban fantasy
• horror
• dystopia
• supernatural 

Submission guidelines and key information can be found at www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com. They are looking for full-length manuscripts of more than 70,000 words, and ideally between 80,000–120,000 words.

The submission portal will be open from the 1st to the 14th of October 2012.
The manuscripts will then be read and those most suited to the global Harper Voyager list will be selected jointly by editors in the USA, UK and Australia. Accepted submissions will benefit from the full publishing process: accepted manuscripts will be edited; and the finished titles will receive online marketing and sales support in World English markets. There is the “possibility” that submissions will be published in print as well.

The submissions and digital publications are a joint, global effort by Harper Voyager. The three editors note that: “No other publishing company has done a coordinated submission period for unagented authors across three continents, and all of us at Harper Voyager and at HarperCollins Publishers are absolutely thrilled to be launching this huge opportunity. We look forward to discovering and digitally publishing many new exciting voices globally at Harper Voyager.”

No word so far in their Questions & Answer section about the royalties for their authors. I am wondering how much it will be… 

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 550 of them : ) if you haven’t already.Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful.  Thanks, Doris

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Sail to Success: Writing and Publishing Classes

Norwegian Sky Cruise Ship

December 3-7, 2012 • Bahamas Cruise
Norwegian Sky 4-Day Bahamas Cruise – combined with publishing and writing seminars:

Have a part of your manuscript critiqued by the publisher who publishes Mercedes Lackey, Joe Haldeman and Harry Turtledove amongst many others.

Learn about contract negotiations by the agent who negotiates on behalf of Lois McMaster Bujold, Catherine Asaro and the estate of Robert A. Heinlein.

Get to know all the inside tricks by some of the best and most experienced writers in the genre today, including:

Mike Resnick, who has won more awards than anyone else (living or dead) in short fiction and is the guest of honor at this year’s Worldcon.  Kevin J. Anderson with 48 bestsellers and over 23 million copies of books in print. One of the most popular SF writers today.  Nancy Kress, multiple award winning author of the ground breaking ‘Beggars in Spain’ (Hugo/Nebula), and an author who is fondly known as ‘The Queen of Novellas’ since every novella she writes appears to get nominated for a major award.  Rebecca Moesta, who specializes in the lucrative young adult market and has penned numerous YA bestsellers, including those set in the Star Wars universe.

And as if this wasn’t enough…you get to do all this while on a cruise ship visiting the Bahamas in a classroom limited to only 22 students.  Significant discounts are available for early sign-ups. 

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Amazon Calls for Submissions from Script Writers

Amazon Studios invites film script writers for submissions.
They will have a chance to earn either $10 000 or $200,000 with their scripts.

Amazon Movie Studios?

Yes, Amazon is accepting scripts and full-length movies from amateur filmmakers, with Amazon intending on producing theatrical films from the winning ideas.

By submitting a script to the program, the writer grants Amazon Studios a free 45 days option on the script (down from 18 months, a steep reduction). If the script is deemed interesting by Amazon, they might then buy an 18 months option for $10 000. If they then decide to turn it into a movie, they buy the rights to a movie for $200 000. All money resulting from prizes won by the movie goes to the writer and if the movie makes over $60 million in US box office, the writer gets an additional $400 000.

If a revised script is selected, the writer keeps the initial $10 000 or $200 000 fee for his script and shares any prize money with the reviser on a 50-50 basis.

For scripts passing the first hurdle, Amazon Studios will run tests with the public to find out it the script generates interest. Based on the feedback from the public, Amazon Studios will decide whether or not to turn it into a movie. The rational behind their system is to create a crowd base selection system for script as opposed to the current selection system through agents and production companies.

For a book writer, this means that they retain all rights on the book and are only selling the rights to the script. When looking for a publisher, being in a position to say that the script based on the book has been shortlisted by Amazon Studios catapults the chances for a lucrative book contract to the top.

But that’s not all:  Amazon is calling artists too!

You could get paid up to $3,000 to design characters for an animated test movie of For Sale By Superhero.
Submit your portfolio to apply.

Read more

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Why You Should Split Your Book Apart

 

…. and sell each piece separately.  This advice gave me a very successful writer.  Here in a nutshell his ideas:  Think of your writing like baking a cake.  And what do bakeries and confiseries do with a cake?  They divide it into tiny slices and sell each piece separately.

In your case, your book is like the cake and has a secret ingredient that is called “Copyright.”  Every story you write, every novel, is a cake full of copyright.

You can sell parts of your book to:

• one publisher
• other parts to another publisher
• some parts to overseas markets
• other parts to audio
• others as e-Books or Singles
• to game companies
• maybe to Hollywood’s film industry
• use parts of it to submit to contests
• divide it in chapters and sell to magazines
• or to web publishers …

The list goes on and on and on. But what you need to do:

• learn all about copyright to really understand this
• realize that each piece can be a cash stream for you
• you don’t even have to use your name, get a pen name or even several

You can sell these rights or uses in several ways:

First Serial Rights
They can be print or electronic and mean that you are selling a publisher the right to publish your article once for the first time. In the case of print rights – you may immediately sell the piece to an e-publisher before print publication and, after the print magazine containing your article hits the newsstand, you are free to sell it again as a reprint to other print markets.

First Serial Right Electronic
Most Canadian and US freelance authors sell North American first serial rights, reserving the right to sell in other world markets (e.g. Great Britain, Australia or Asia). Specify what type of rights you are selling: First North American Electronic Rights Only.

Second Serial Right
These are reprint rights and apply to print and electronic markets. Never sell reprint rights, keep them at all costs. Even you will earn less money for each reprint, yet you can sell your work over and over again.

Subsidiary Rights
Other rights that authors and freelancers hold are subsidiary rights, including, but not limited to movie rights, TV and radio rights, audio and other media rights.

Each story, each novel is a piece of your writing business.  If you spread them out over a number of pen names you have a pretty consistent cash flow streams working. You just need to offer them to people who will buy them.

For example:  You sold German Translation Rights, and your contract with the German publisher limited your book to trade paper only.  Now you can sell:

• German hardback rights
• German audio rights
• German mass market rights
• German film rights

Your German publisher will pay advances like your Canadian or American publisher, and there will be royalties (against advances).  And then maybe can sell it to Spanish publishing houses.  Or Russian, Italian…Dozens and dozens of pieces of your work can be sold. Each piece is a cash stream. You just need to sell it. You create the inventory, your book, just once, but you can sell it for your entire life and even your heirs can keep selling these pieces.

Wring maximum value out of your “book” by spinning off audios, videos, magazine excerpts, foreign-language editions, and more.  Multipurpose your book into downloadable CD’s and e-book versions.  Wring maximum value out of your work by creating audiotapes, videotapes, magazine excerpts, foreign language editions and more.

You might have written articles and submitted them to e-zines or “content farms” for free, adding your web links and hoped that readers would click on these links and come to your website to buy books or whatever you offer there.
e-Zines and all these content farms, such as 101, Answers.com, All About…, are a really profitable businesses – alas not for the writers that create all the content there, but for the owners of these websites…

But not anymore:
Now it is possible to write 5,000 (better 10,000) to 30,000 word articles, Amazon calls them “Kindle Singles” and sells them online. A prominent author of these Kindle Singles is Stephen King, with his Single “Mile 81” the current top seller (as of this writing). So, instead of submitting your work for free to content farms, you sell those articles at the internet giant Amazon website and receive 70% royalties, even for Singles priced under Dollar 2.99.  To be precise for Singles priced between 99 cents and $4.99

Other criteria’s for Amazon Singles are:
• Original work, not previously published in other formats or publications
• Self-contained work, not chapters excerpted from a longer work
• Not published on any public website in its entirety
• But Amazon is are currently not accepting how-to manuals, public domain works, reference books, travel guides, or children’s books!

Split your book in single articles
Very few emerging writers realize that they can sell their magazine articles over and over again. As long as the markets don’t overlap, you can sell exactly the same article as many times as you like and, in this globally connected marketplace, it is easier than you think.

However, you can only sell first rights, either print or electronic, once for the same piece. After that, unless you change the article significantly, you must offer it as a reprint for a lower fee.

If you change the article, you can sell it again for first rights. For example, you can turn a 500 word piece for a grade seven market, into a similar length article for a regional Catholic newspaper and an Anglican website (e-rights) in Canada.

Then tweak it into an 800 word article for a national US daily. Subsequently, you make some minor changes to slant the piece for a travel magazine. Each time, you are able to sell it for first rights. Continue to sell it, however look out for new markets in other English language markets overseas.

This practice should be your standard operating procedure if you write and sell articles to print periodicals and e-zines. Reselling your work makes good business and time management sense – it reduces the energy you expend and increases your revenue. Unless you routinely sell a single article for several thousands of dollars, and perhaps even if you do, you should be squeezing every dollar out of every single piece you write.
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Part 2 – Great Opportunity for Authors: Foreign Right Sales

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

 

see also Part 1 here

 

How does a foreign rights contract work?
The agent usually has a standard contract which she prepares and sends to both parties for signatures, so the foreign contracts you will see are generally quite similar. The key factors, of course, are the amount of the non-refundable advance and the royalty rate, generally minimum of 7-8% on foreign rights, which should be applied to the retail price.

Royalties are deducted from the advance. Once the advance is paid back, the publisher makes royalty payments. Most publishers calculate royalties following the end of each calendar year, though some do so semi-annually. Payments are due a quarter later. The contract should have a finite term, usually five years. If the book proves to be big with good longevity, it can go back on the market at the end of the term for much better terms.

One thing that is absolutely critical is that the publisher provides a computerized statement showing sales, returns, etc. via postal mail to the author for each period. If figures are provided any other way (i.e. via email), it is too easy to fudge them. The language and geographic territory licensed should be specified. And the number of complimentary books provided to the author should be specified. The agent’s commission should be identified. Another thing is to limit rights to book publishing only. Always retain all other rights or sell them for top dollar advances.

Be aware: You are dealing with international countries.
Don’t email the manuscript file until you received the advance in full. But for royalties, once the advance is paid back, it can be dicey, depending upon the quality of the agents and size of the publishers you are working with. Publishers in Asia and Eastern Europe can be more problematic, depending on their size and reputation and how they treat international copyright agreements.

Even if the publisher does comply, they send the money to the agent, who is supposed to send it on to you, so there’s an extra layer of opportunity for graft. They know that you have no leverage; who’s going to spend thousands of dollars hiring lawyers in a country halfway around the world unless there are clearly large royalties at stake? The only leverage you have is if you have an American co-agent involved because the foreign co-agent’s reputation is at stake within the international agent community. Even then, many American co-agents expect only to receive their share of the advance and spend little, if any effort to collect royalties unless they are substantial. The moral of the story: The larger and more established the agency and publisher, the better chance you have of getting paid royalties when your advance is depleted. Try to get the highest advance possible and rather lower royalties.

Before you sign the publishing contract:
Morris Rosenthal gave in his guest blogging article “Publisher Book Contracts” at Fonerbooks.com the following advice:

“Most new authors fail to retain legal counsel before signing their first book contract, and actually depend on the acquisitions editor to tell them what’s fair and normal for the publisher to request. This creates an excellent negotiating position for the publisher and a horrible one for the author. Unfortunately, publishers really take advantage.

Author advocacy organizations can be a good source for publishing contract advice, but the catch is you usually have to be a published writer before you can join. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of joining a prestigious author guild after publishing a trade book, sending them the publisher’s book contract for your next edition for free legal review, and hearing something like, “Oh, you never should have signed the first contract. Now you’re stuck with it forever.”

“The contractual relationship between the author and the publisher is based on what’s written in the signed book contract, not on implicit understandings. Even experienced authors and agents sometime make the mistake of concentrating on the money and not paying enough attention to the clauses that protect the author’s rights. All contract terms are negotiable, though acquisitions editors like to pretend they have a standard publishing contract that all their authors are happy to sign. A brief summary of standard trade publisher contract terms follows, but it’s by no means all-inclusive: I advise everyone who is looking at a contract signing to consult a lawyer.”

There are some things to watch when negotiating foreign rights deals – hopefully an agent will keep an eye on these, but it’s worth having some idea yourself:

• Term of the deal.
  Five years is most common, anything longer then you should be expecting a premium from the publisher.
• Country / Territory for the contract
  You might sign away Portuguese language rights without realising that it will include publication in Brazil (and Mozambique, Angola, Macau, Cape Verde etc). Also, giving worldwide Spanish language rights could cause friction with any United States publishing deal, as there is a large Spanish reading audience there.
• Tax situation in your and the potential publishers country.
  While there are now many treaties which allow for uninhibited flow of monies between nations, you could be badly caught out in some cases, and lose most of your advance to a foreign government’s tax.

John Kremer has a bunch of helpful lists and reports for authors, first of all an e-book for an extensive list of foreign book agents (300+) as well as more than a thousand literary agents in the U.S. and Canada. It’s an immediately downloadable report covering 1,400 agents (with address, phone, email, website, notes on some books they’ve sold rights to, etc.).  Instead of spending time researching foreign rights agents, you can order it for only $6.00, download it right away, and go to work, contacting the best agents in every country.

Foreign Book Distributors, Wholesalers, & Sales Reps — This report features more than 345 companies that provide foreign distribution or sales representation and also includes a sample of a foreign distribution contract.

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