17 Bestseller Tips – from Trade Publishers

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If you ever see Marketing and Advertising from traditional puplishers, it’s for their Bestseller authors only, such as: Advance Book Reviews, posted on their book’s cover, Book Tours and Signings of celebrity authors, media coverage including reviews, speaking engagements, and placing at major bookstores who report to Bestseller lists.  How can author-publishers use the methods of global trade publishers to promote their self-published books?  You don’t need to travel to the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, like Johannes Kepler did in 1620 – yes, self-publishing was en vogue already four hundred years ago!

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7 Million Self-Published Titles:  Stiff Competition
Since 2010 roughly 7 million new self-published books appeared, almost all at online retailer’s websites.  And these titles will be offered for many years to come, as most of them are in digital format. The “gold rush” seems to be over and self-publishing has been dropping almost 50% per year, obviously “separating the wheat from the chaff”.  You’re not a New York Times bestselling author. You don’t have a publicist. And your Amazon sales numbers are awful. Should you quit writing books?  No, absolutely not!

For those of you who want to succeed at self-publishing, use also some traditional marketing methods, create a Business Plan and a Budget, including anywhere from 5-10% for your overall book marketing, including website, paying for IT help, designer, or Google ads.
Traditional publishing uses multiple ways to promote. Self-published authors attempt to market their books to the entire world via Amazon, social media, and their website it seems.  Publishers select books in order to stay in business, and also to determine what the publishing house’s identity is.  Here’s how you can copy traditional ways to market – adjusted to self-publishing.  One step at a time, but continually every day – split in small tasks.
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1. Start Early
Market Research – the very first step to do!  An editor will need to make a case that the book fills a market need. And to do that, the publishing house will look carefully at what’s out there. Has the competition a recent publication in this sub-genre? Does it have similar scope? Is it widely available?

Authors, and especially self-publishing authors need to study their competition carefully too:  Read their books, study book covers, pricing, reviews, and the marketing of competing books. The most powerful and essential steps you can take toward promoting your book begins long before the actual writing of the book. At least two years before the book is published, start building a network of supporters and reviewers.
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2. Print!
Traditional publishers concentrate on print books, which still make up for about 60% of the book market, depending if you look at book sales numbers or revenue per book.  Audio Books: The audio-book market is certainly growing, and Trade Publishers are not only investing in digital (even so it took them a very long time) books, but also in audio-books.

E-book authors might be happy with their sales on Amazon, Apple, Kobo or Barnes & Noble. You might have even turned it into an audio book. But the questions for a “real” book, paper back or hard-cover copy from conservative friends or elderly family members are nagging… And wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Chapters or Baker & Taylor or one of these rare independent book shops and see your book in the shelf?  You will not earn a fortune, not even a living, but for a couple of months it is a nice pocket change. Only months… yes, because longer than this, barely any book will stay in the book store, unless it really is a bestseller and gets re-printed. If you go the indie route and choose for example the POD services and worldwide distribution through Lightning Source, (provided you have at least 3 books to be considered a small publisher) your book is printed on demand and will never get discarded (good: no-return-policy in POD worldwide distribution). See this article How to Distribute Your Book Worldwide.
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3. Book Sales at many outlets
Imagine you could buy all books from Penguin only in one book chain… Publishers distribute their books to as many outlets as possible, to brick-and-mortar stores, independent book sellers, mass markets, online book sellers, even via Affiliate programs.

Authors: Sell your books, e-books and audio-books not only through Amazon, but as well on Barnes&Noble, Apple and Kobo websites, to have your “eggs in more than one basket”. And don’t forget the potentially huge potential market for hardcover books, selling them to libraries all over the country!  However, there are way more online retailers for e-books and books than just Apple , Sony, Diesel, Kobo or Barnes & Noble.  Sign up with a book distributor / fulfillment company for your print-version of the book. Distributors mostly require just three books to be listed as a publishing business, and if authors have not written three books yet, they can band together with other authors to reach this minimum.  Traditional publishers and the books of their authors can be found on Bowker’s global database of books.  How to get into “Books in Print”, a worldwide database and to register your book for FREE! with Bowker is the topic of another blog posts.

Books available for future publishers:  Aaron Shepard has written two books about the topic of book distribution: POD for Profit and Aiming at Amazon, both contain very detailed information for small publishers. Another great source is Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, a classic publishing guide-book.
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4. Sell books to Libraries
All traditional publishers sell their books to libraries.

According to statistics from the American Library Association and the Book Industry Study Group, libraries yearly purchase books for nearly $2 billion. But not only books, also audio-books and other forms of publications. Around 95% from major publishers.  Imagine, you sold your $15 book at a 50% discount to only 10% of these libraries, you will earn more than $75,000. But how can you tap into the lucrative library market?  It is explained in detail, including valuable links of wholesale companies who sell to libraries, on SavvyBookWriters here and here.
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5. Book Shows & Fairs
Representation at the applicable trade shows includes bookseller trade shows like the Bookseller Expo America (BEA) or one of the regional bookseller shows, like the New England Booksellers Association, Book Shows for the Library Association (ALA) and certainly the world’s most important, the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany every October.

Which Book Fairs or other Literary Events will you attend in the coming months to present your work?  How to organize your participation and how to attract visitors is explained in detail in this blog post, pointing out the do’s and don’ts at book fairs.

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6. Book Signings
An author tour can take various forms. Two weeks of travel, flights from city to city, an author appearance every day, twice a day if possible.  Publishers often make their choice on the basis of three factors:  if the book can sell in quantity in bookstores; if the book can be reviewed in newspapers, not simply journals;  and if the author is presentable.

How you can organize your own book signing is explained in detail, even with a time-table, here on this blog post at SavvyBookWriters.com/blog
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7. Book Clubs
Traditional Book Publishers sometimes sponsor book clubs, or invite them to participate in a contest, such as the one offered by Random House of Canada “Book Clubs are Beautiful”.  Members suggests four or five books that they must have read and then the voting and lobbying begins until they’ve got their list. member suggests four or five books that they must have read and then the voting and lobbying begins until they’ve got their list.

Authors on the book clubs list have attended a meeting or contacted them by phone or email. Writers can find easily contact addresses of book clubs via Google. Offer them a free copy of your book, just as big publishers do. Don’t overlook virtual book clubs at Goodreads, Wattpad, Bibliophile etc.
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8. Writing Contests
Many published authors compete in writing contests, and publishing houses sometimes organize contests.

How to Get More Readers from an Award:  Publicity around a book award will boost your book sales. Contests are a great way to hone your craft and show the world how much better you are than other writers. Winning a book award for your self-published fiction or nonfiction book is a great way to gain recognition and approval. You will not only see an increase in your book sales – if you market it well – you also can add the award sticker to your cover and mention the achievement on your back cover, in your books’ description, and in all your marketing and promotions – online or offline. 25 Writing Competitions You Should Enter
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9. Content Writing for magazines & newspapers
World-famous bestseller writers from big publishing houses, such as Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, Tom Chiarella, Gloria Steinem and Stephen King did it: Writing occasionally short stories and magazine articles – before blogs became fashionable.

Your book has been launched months ago or even last year. NOW readers need to see something NEW from you. It doesn’t need to be a whole new book:
The three main assets you have already
– your writing skills
– the content you already penned
– the research you have done for your book(s) can be used to write at least 20 – 30 articles or blog posts – and if regularly posted on Google+ it is raising your Search Engine Ranking on Google tremendously.

More benefits of writing content:
– it is a subtle way to promote your book
– you receive valuable back links to your website or blog
– you will have lots of possibilities to post on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook.
– include links to your articles in email newsletter (that you hopefully send out regularly to your readers)

Post these articles on your blog or contribute guest blogs to other sites that are focused on the same topics as your book.
Content is used to draw in your ideal readers / reviewers, it will link to your book sales page or your website and it helps a lot to build a platform. Last but not least it gives you a lot of material to post and to tweet. The result: you will increase your exposure, show your writing skills, grow a loyal following and attract reviewers – in one sentence: you will achieve success with your writing – and in many cases, even get paid for it.
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10. Press Kits on your website
Bestseller authors at traditional publisher have the support of the publisher’s in-house (or out-sourced) publicity department. How much publicity support depends on many factors, but there are the basic elements that a publicity department will likely provide:  Book Press Materials.  Near publication date, the book’s publicist will email the electronic version of the press kits to a large number of applicable editors and producers to garner interest in the book. Book Media Follow-Up is the next step. The book publicist will follow up with any media outlet that responds to the mailings or e-mailings, will mail additional copies of the finished book, and will make additional calls or emails to other outlets to remind them the book is in their in-box.

To get the word out about the upcoming book launch, to receive positive articles in newspapers., magazine, book blogs, or to get interviews, writers should professionally deal with anyone who could tout their book – not only national press or TV.  Don’t make these common errors:  Not having a press page on your website for example.  Unfortunately most writers are not aware that journalists, bloggers or radio hosts need a bit more information than what they see on your Amazon page. And they won’t just copy and paste your “about the author” or the description of your book on the sales page. Check out Stephen Kings website, see how he organized his page for the media, where journalists can download high-resolution press photos.

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11. Advance Book Reviews in magazines and newspapers
Did you ever wonder why brand new books had already reviews?  New author-publishers can learn a lot in book stores:  Check out how professionally published books look like: Many of these trade books have either on their back cover (paperback) or on their binding flap (hard cover) several snippets of the book reviews, as well as endorsements from bestselling writers or other professionals, that were already written before the book was printed.
Traditional publishers may budget anywhere from fifty to several hundred “free and review” copies. Advance Review Copies (ARC’s) are what they send out half a year before book launch date.

How these pre-editions Galleys) are produced and to whom they should be sent is explained in How to Get Reviews Before Your Books Launch.  Prepare your book review query well in advance and learn what to avoid when pitching to reviewers.  Valuable tips can be found at Prestigious Reviews and How to Get Them.
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12. Radio Interviews
Bestseller authors often appear as guest at TV or radio stations. Publicists for major publishing houses have longstanding contacts to their editors and arrange interviews for bestseller authors.

Authors can go the same route, starting with internet radio stations, such as this one: The Book Report.  Don’t forget when you plan the marketing of your public events, to announce it for free on Google+ and on Goodreads, use their free Event pages.

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13. Speaking Engagements
Keynote Speakers and Motivational Speakers get handsomely paid, often $10.000 to 15,000 for a two-hour speech!  Most celebrity authors, found as speakers, are writing Non-Fiction books.

Speaker agencies, or organizers of Writers Conferences are the best approach if you want to earn more with speaking engagements than with your book.  If you are really serious about publicly speaking, join first Toastmasters.com and then the Certified Speaking Professional Association where you can get certification in public speaking.

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14. Foreign Rights
Basic subsidiary rights that publishers contract with their authors include translation into foreign languages, foreign rights, and reprint of selections by other publishers, just to name a few. An American publisher may also license a book to a British house for separate English-language publication in the UK and the Commonwealth

Foreign Rights  as well as translations into other languages can be a great way to leverage the value of your manuscript – but don’t expect big numbers right away. Additionally, it will add an international, professional image to you and your books. Revenue will be an advance and approximately 6 – 10% royalty of the retail price, minus percentage for the agent. Try to get the highest advance possible. It’s also a long-term project as it takes around 18 months until the book is translated and finally available online and in bookstores – and another half year for royalties to arrive.
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15. Bookstore Placement
Placement in bookstores, both chain and local (especially bookstores that report numbers to the Bestsellers List)  William Germano explains in his book:
Trade publishers’ marketing departments issue all kinds of catalogs to promote books—ones you see and ones you won’t unless you’re a librarian or a bookseller. The trade catalog is a publisher’s principal tool for making sales to bookstores.  Publishers with two trade catalogs bring out one per publishing season. The fall season usually begins in September and continues through the winter. The spring season begins in February or March, and continues through the summer. Books to be announced in a catalog must be securely in place at the publishing house up to a year ahead.

For those of you who want to succeed at self-publishing, use also some traditional marketing methods, create a Business Plan and a Budget, including anywhere from 5-10% for your overall book marketing including your website, paying for IT help, designer, or ads.

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16. Placement of books in big box stores
Wandering into a Walmart or Shoppers DrugMart outlet, you will most likely find close to the entrance / cashier desk the shelves of magazines and books, often from Bestseller authors. Big publishing houses sell tons of books to these big box stores – at steep discounts I must add.

If your books are selling like hot cakes, consider selling in bulk too.  Book wholesalers or websites such as ChainStoreGuide.com and TheSalesmansGuide.com, provide contact information for hundreds of buyers. You could also visit the websites of your most coveted outlets. Target even maintains a “vendor hotline” to answer questions by phone. However, be aware that having at least a dozen books is the minimum before you approach buyers at big box stores. They will not order single titles. If you have a book that should go into a specific department, for instance Sporting Goods, Electronics, Childrens, etc. contact your local store manager and ask who the buyer is for that specific department.

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17. Book Sales Page
Many big publishers and major online retailers sell from their own website print and digital books – and so can you!  How?

Get all the information you need to start selling your books from our former article:  How to Sell Your Books From Your Own Website.
Make at least 30% more on your books. Get your revenue immediately and get to know your readers, a very important point for your future marketing and to keep in contact with your customers.
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Conclusion:
This is just a small selection of the many book marketing activities that authors can copy from major publishers – beside Social Media networking.  “Just Because You Wrote a Book, Readers Won’t Line Up To Buy It!”  Yet, authors who take their publishing endaveor seriously and work as hard on their publishing business as they do on their writing, will always succeed. Read this article regarding the “Book Sales Plateau”.
Find many more detailed tips and links to all aspects of author-publishing and book marketing at SavvyBookWriters, especially how you can act like a professional publisher and take your books to the next level.  Remember that you don’t have to do all of this at once!

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

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Are You Sure You Know Your Rights As Author?

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Smart Racoon

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If you are serious about being a writer, you need to know a bit about the business. Let’s start with your rights as an author and how to read a publishing contract, in case you are not an author-publisher, keeping ALL your rights.

Anne Rooney summed it nicely up: “Publishing is a business and no matter how friendly and reassuring your editor, they want to make as much money out of the deal as they can. If “it’s just the standard contract” you say that’s fine as a starting point, but now you are going to make it suitable to you and your book. If they say “no one has ever objected before” that means either they are lying or no one ever has read the contract properly and taken a professional approach.”
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As an author you own the copyright, and you own all the rights to your work. You can sell – or give away these rights or use in several ways:
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First Serial Rights
They can be print or electronic and mean you are selling a publisher the right to publish your article once for the first time. In the case of print rights you are free to immediately sell the piece to an e-magazine or e-zine 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 Rights Electronic
However, first serial electronic rights are different – for sample e-magazines or e-zines buy first rights for an exclusive time period, usually one year (often for the laughable amount of $5 or $10), and at the same time, ask for non-exclusive rights after that. While you can immediately sell the same piece to a print market as a “first print right,” you cannot even post the article on your own website until the year is up. After that you are free to sell the article to other electronic markets as a reprint and post it yourself online everywhere you want.

North American first serial rights
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, Asia). Specify what type of rights you are selling: First North American Electronic Rights Only.

Second Serial Rights
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, 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, dramatic, TV and radio rights, audio and other media rights.

Digital Rights
However, don’t give up or sell your electronic rights to a traditional book publisher without receiving a large lump sum or at least 50% royalty from the retail price. Most publishing houses are not really experts in e-publishing and often don’t use the electronic rights to your book. But it would prevent you from e-publishing your own work or selling it to a high-royalty-paying e-publisher.

All Rights
In this case the author gives up all future income from the article or book and only retains the copyright. Giving up all your rights should be only considered if a tremendous sum is paid for.

Copyright Protection in the USA and Canada
Copyright protection in Canada is automatic upon the creation of a given work, regardless of the medium of its creation, and it lasts until fifty years after the creator’s death – in the USA seventy years.

Before You Sign Any Contracts:
Always first contact your national authors’ or writers’ associations for further information and get legal advice from a lawyer who is specialized in copyright. This can save you ten thousands of dollars.

Sources:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/
http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/ccl/aboutCopyright.html
http://www.stroppyauthor.com/2010/07/how-to-read-publishing-contract-part-15.html
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/how-to-sell-foreign-book-rights/
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/part-2-great-opportunity-for-authors-foreign-right-sales/
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/
http://www.writing-world.com/links/rights.html
http://www.cipo.gc.ca
http://www.writersunion.ca

 

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

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

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Interview with Lara Fawzy, Business Author

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Today’s author interview is with Lara Fawzy, a global marketing specialist and business writer. She authored together with Lucas Dworsky a non-fiction guide book to “Internet B2B marketing in emerging markets” worldwide. It is not only a valuable source for economists and businesses, but also an amazing textbook, describing marketing models, and concludes with detailed case studies showing the ebocube model at work, driving real profits.

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Internet-B2B-marketing-in-emerging-markets

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How would you describe your book to someone who has not yet read it?

It’s the first comprehensive guide to Internet B2B marketing in emerging markets, introducing ebocube model, a framework and methodology business leaders can implement with low-risk and high reward to penetrate the world’s fastest-growing markets, and create significant value where it never existed before.

• The book begins with an up-to-date introduction to emerging markets, including economic potential, languages, culture, time zones, economies, politics, and Internet/mobile penetration.
• Next, the book covers best practices for branding, distribution, segmentation, and collaboration in emerging markets. Then, in the heart of the book, the powerful, three-phase Internet-based B2B marketing and sales model “ebocube” is introduced.
• Readers will learn how to establish metrics and dashboards to stay on track through the entire B2b buying cycle; how to plan and manage campaigns, from selling propositions to media mix; how to utilize email, webcasts, websites, social media, and banner ads in emerging markets; how to mix in offline media and channels; how to budget and manage marketing operations and much more. The book concludes with detailed case studies showing ebocube at work driving real profits.  Emerging Business Online brings together powerful lessons and techniques that are being applied successfully by Cisco and other global leaders.

Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?

Don’t struggle with trial-and-error approaches to Internet B2B marketing in fast-growth emerging markets. Begin with a blueprint that works: ebocube!  The model is called ‘ebocube’, which stands for emerging business online, with cube referring to the visual framework of the three-phase model.

1. Phase One: The Dashboard and the Datacube.
   This phase focuses on reporting on marketing, sales, and company or contact data for the businesses being targeted in emerging markets. It measures what’s working (or not working) and which market is generating the highest return on marketing investment (ROMI). The datacube also represents the quality of contact data to leverage an eCRM strategy. These reports mean business decisions are not based on instinct or assumption, but on numbers and business intelligence.
2. Phase Two: Campaign and Data planning
   Using the ebocube commercial cycle (contact buying cycle/decision-making process and data life cycle), phase two discusses the proposition, messaging, the incentive, localization, budgeting, and integrating the media mix (online and offline) to achieve ebocube commercial cycle goals.
3. Phase Three: Marketing Operations or mops.
   Phase three covers budgeting, planning, executing, tracking, and measuring campaigns to feed the dashboard with meaningful metrics. It also demonstrates how  to feed your company database, with contact and company data, which can be represented in the datacube. Phase three closes the loop on marketing, data, and sales in global markets.
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   ebocube

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What inspired you to start writing ?
A new-generation technology prompted us to write this book that technology is telepresence, the next generation of videoconferencing technology. Telepresence uses the Internet to transfer conference calls as well as high-definition images and presentations. It can provide life-size images and surround sound and can thus create the illusion that all the attendees are in the same room.

Holographic videoconferencing is an application that appears to beam three-dimensional images of people into a room. This is but one example of existing and emerging technologies that present an effective and responsible alternative to world leaders and business executives who currently fly around the world and ride in limousines to meeting locations. Digital and information technologies are allowing businesses in emerging markets to dramatically upgrade their business processes and operations.

As billions of people now access the Internet, emerging nations and markets are increasing their investments in these technologies to give people greater access (and speed) to information. This book explores how and why the Internet and related technologies are redefining how we all conduct business globally. We identify the most salient new ideas shaping the global information marketplace, and explore how these offer government and private sector managers a new generation of digitally based management and communication tools and how businesses in developed markets can develop, emerging, fast growth markets.

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Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you have learned as a writer from then to now?

***** Start marketing before you publish the book, at least prepare some mailings lists, live events, start a blog, build a platform. If you want a bestseller – learn how to market and sell !!! *****
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Considering a book from the first word you write to the moment you see it on a bookstore shelf, what’s your favorite part of the process? What’s your least favorite?
My favorite part was seeing the book cover design for the first time, and editing the book content. Typing: did not enjoy this part so much, probably the most tiring part, oh and receiving manuscript rejections, however, it was all worth it in the end when we received a contract from the FT Press Pearson 

 

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything about your book?
Probably the title would need to be changed, although I like it, I could play with it forever as a marketer. My publisher has a lot of control over the book, pricing, design etc, there are a few things I would have liked to have changed that were advised to us by the publisher. Perhaps I would consider self-publishing in the future.

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How did you get published? Please share your own personal journey.
We good published by a major publishing house in New York, the FT Press Pearson, ironically Pearson UK rejected our manuscript. The formula included persistence, a very good proposal, targeting the right people at the right time and having a marketable content.
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What general advice do you have for other writers?
Start with a good structure and then write when you can, in the evenings, after work on the weekend, don’t give up if you feel you have viable idea or good business idea or novel. Your vision is totally realistic even if no body else shares it.

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What do you find is the best part of being an author?
Being an author for the FT press gives me a lot of credibility in the business world and has opened doors for me, more importantly, I believe anything is achievable if you commit and persevere.

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What is ONE thing that you have done that brought you more readers?
Writing blogs and sharing on social media, mainly LinkedIn.
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What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you?
I’ve climbed the highest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu half the size of Everest, it’s my second biggest achievement after publishing my first book!

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Learn more about Lara Fawzy and see her remarkable posts @LaraFawzy, for everyone interest in marketing, digital business and geo-politics.

https://twitter.com/LaraFawzy

http://www.amazon.com/Emerging-Business-Online-Internet-Marketing/dp/0137064411

 www.Larafawzy.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 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 Sell Foreign Book Rights

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It is not that easy to sell your foreign rights without an agent or a publisher, but it’s not impossible. Women’s fiction author Kay Raymer did the whole agent query routine in 2000, but nobody would look at her novel, Hannah Street. So she sent the manuscript to her attorney, who happened to know someone at Bertelsmann / Germany. Bertelsmann made an offer on the book, and her lawyer helped arrange the contract. As a result, Raymer’s first novel appeared in Germany in 2001, a paperback original called Das Rosenhaus. Read more in Gwen Ellery’s article.

Most agents charge 20% (or sometimes even 25%) on foreign sales (including British and translations).
This 20% rate is justified because normally two agents are involved (the second one being in the foreign country), and they end up splitting the commission.

You should never agree to be paying over 25% commissions for any type of sale.
Note that your foreign sales will likely be subject to a local withholding tax (10% is common), and that all of that tax burden will be borne by you (that is, the agent will take his or her commission off the pre-tax gross).

If you are not represented already, why not try to find agents or even publishers yourself in other countries, especially if you speak more than one language?
I just found a blog post from a successful writer, who did just that: searched the internet, found contact addresses of agents in other countries and contacted them. He wrote:

“How does one sell rights in the international marketplace?
My first foreign rights sales occurred as a result of Book Expo America, where for a small fee my book was displayed in a co-op booth.  Although the book didn’t take Book Expo by storm — as I somehow thought it would — it received interest from and I sold translation rights to publishers in Mexico, Poland and Nigeria.  If publishers in such diverse countries and cultures wanted the book, I was sure publishers in other countries would also want it.”   Read the whole article here: http://axiomawards.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/selling-foreign-rights-around-the-world/

Morris Rosenthal gives also great, detailed tips in his article about book contracts.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/contract.htm

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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 730 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 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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7,400 Intl. Exhibitors, 3,200 Events at Frankfurt Book Fair

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If you have never been to Germany in early October, you have missed something!  No, I don’t mean the Oktoberfest in Munich, the world’s biggest party (even it’s worth a visit!) – I am talking here about the world’s biggest book fair, the Frankfurt Buchmesse.

Welcome to the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012!

From 10 to 14 October there’s nowhere else you should be but with millions of books. As the world’s largest, even legendary book fair, Frankfurt is always exciting, innovative and very, very colorful. This year there will be  more than 7,400 international exhibitors, diverse new customer groups and more than 3,200 events. Among its many activities, the Frankfurt Academy is hosting four conferences to help international publishers find their way in the digital world, as well as the two-day event, StoryDrive, to highlight the potential for cross-medial cooperation.

Find information on book markets worldwide on their website. But there is more: whether it’s assistance for first timers, new technologies in the classroom, marketing for publishers. Frankfurt promises a lot – and they keep their promise – always.
The First Timer Seminar provides, among others:

• info on how to pave the way for new business contacts.
• info on how to make your Fair agenda working efficiently.
• info on how to benefit from the Frankfurt Academy conferences and programmes.
• introduction into the rights and licence business by an experienced expert.
• personal testimonials by former First Timers.
• guided tour of the Fair (subsequently, optional).
• Meet with…
• other first time exhibitors and trade visitors to the Frankfurt Book Fair.
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Did you read the blog about splitting your book apart and selling the rights separately? Or the one about foreign rights?  Here in Frankfurt you will find hundreds or thousands of international publishers to whom you can sell foreign rights.

Make your arrangements for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair early, especially for accommodations, and order your tickets online.  Pre-purchased tickets will entitle you to free use of public transport (RMV) as soon as you arrive.  Enjoy this wonderful world of books in Germany!

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are more than 520 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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Did Harlequin Publishing Deceive Their Authors?

Yesterday I read this article on J.A. Konrath’s blog:

“Three authors have just filed a class action suit against Harlequin publishing, which belongs to TorStar Corp., a Canadian publishing company.

One of them, Ann Voss Peterson wrote a book that Harlequin published, and she made 2.4% royalties per e-book copy sold. One of the reasons for this was:

While most of my books are sold in the US, many are sold under lower royalty rates in other countries.

In this particular contract, some foreign rights and – ALL e-book royalties – are figured in a way that artificially reduces net by licensing the book to a “related licensee,” in other words, a company owned by Harlequin itself.
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Here’s an example: Harlequin has an e-book it lists for $3.99. It sells that to Amazon at a wholesale price of $2.00. The author should make $1.00 for each $3.99 e-book that Amazon sells. But instead of selling directly to Amazon, Harlequin sells the e-book to Company X for 12 cents. So the author only gets 6 cents. Company X than sells the same e-book to Amazon for $2.00, but because they are a sub-licensing company, they don’t have to pay the author anything.

Sub-licensing is common. This is all fine and legal. So why are authors suing Harlequin? Because Harlequin and Company X are the same company!  No publishing company would ever sub-license rights for a paltry 6%, unless it was selling the rights to itself. Does Harlequin really expect a judge to believe that it sells a $3.99 e-book and only makes 6 cents? And according to the complaint, the 6% was not equivalent to the amount reasonably obtainable from an unrelated party, as required by the publishing agreements.

Do publishers have such a sense of entitlement, and do they believe that authors are so beneath them, that this is a fair and honest business practice?” Read J.A.Konrath’s full story and the court complaints. It makes for an interesting reading!

 

If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are almost 500 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.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr or StumbleUpon – or other social networking sites of your choice) – other writers might also enjoy this blog and find it useful.

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Job Opening: Assistant at German Book Office NY

Job Opening: Assistant at German Book Office New York
Seeking native English speakers possessing German language skills for Assistant position at the German Book Office New York/Frankfurt Book Fair.

Role Responsibilities:

• Support of Director in all matters of the business including but not limited to: Communication with German and American publishing professionals;
• Copy-editing English texts for both grammar and style; assisting in coordination of various events and Frankfurt Book Fair related matters
• Writing reviews, articles and various blog posts for the Frankfurt Book Fair, the GBO, and New Books in German Magazine
• Managing the GBO and part of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s social media presence including but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest etc.
• Creating online email campaigns
• Monthly accounting for the GBO and Publishing Perspectives
• Conducting research projects for the GBO and the Frankfurt Book Fair

The German Book Office (GBO) New York, Inc., founded in 1998 as a non-profit organization, is a project of the Frankfurt Book Fair and acts as a bridge between the German and American publishing industries. The mission of the GBO is to promote German books in North America. We establish contact between German and North American publishers, and we partner with international and literary organizations
to promote translated books.

In addition, the German Book Office works closely with the Frankfurt Book Fair on its North American activities and projects. We provide information and assistance to exhibitors and visitors of the fair.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience. Business-related majors a plus.
• Prior office experience, preferably in publishing, digital media or agency desired.
• Strong communication skills (verbal and written) with the aptitude to communicate effectively in both individual and group settings
• Proven ability to deliver timely, accurate work and demonstrate good follow up and follow through all projects
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to multi-task, prioritize, and manage time effectively
• Advanced knowledge Microsoft Office Suite and online research methods
• Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite preferred; Final Cut Pro X, a plus
• Native English speakers possessing German language skills
• Willingness to learn, eagerness to network and interest in publishing at large

Please send your resume, with salary expectations and earliest possible start date to: stock@newyork.gbo.org

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts (there are almost 500 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.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr or StumbleUpon – or other social networking sites of your choice) – other writers might also enjoy this blog and find it useful.

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European Union and e-Books

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When it comes to currency, the EC is borderless; when it comes to e-books — not so much. Could this change? You will be surprised – it might be the European Commission that makes it happen:

European publishers and a member of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) responsible for the e-book standard ePub, met with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms Kroes to discuss the future of e-books.

Publishers called for reduced rates of VAT for e-books and Ms Kroes has reassured them that she was standing behind them on this issue. The goodwill has to come from the Finance Ministers.

The publishers also insisted that they are signing licences with authors allowing them to distribute the books in a said language on a pan-European basis. There is no obstacle in the contract between publishers and retailers which prevent these retailers to sell a German e-book to Greece or a Spanish e-book to the United Kingdom for example and to make sure that as many readers have access to as many books as possible, this is an issue of cultural diversity.

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E-book sales in Great Britain rose by 366%

 

Philip Jones wrote about the latest surveys: “E-books are really going global, sales rising worldwide”. Consumer e-books accounted for 38% of Britain’s publishers’ digital sales in 2011, up from 13% in 2010, and compared to 2% in 2009.

This is a hefty shift in the market, and one that will impact pretty much every part of the trade book business: bookshops, agents, commissioning, and of course, writers. However the digital migration had minimal impact on the overall children’s bookmarket, taking only just over 1% of value share of children’s books.”

From scholarly publishing to trade e-books, the industry is facing an unprecedented level of upheaval, some of it being pushed through by the internet, and the huge tech giants such as Amazon, and Apple.

Australia and India have joined the UK and the US in leading the world in e-book adoption rates, according to Bowker Market Research’s Global eBook Monitor with adult fiction the main target of book buyers in Great Britain and Australia, while in India and South Korea the concentration is on both professional and academic/textbooks.

According to the research 24% of respondents in India have bought an e-book in the six months prior to the survey, putting that market ahead of Australia (21%), the UK (21%), and the US (20%). Respondents in France and Japan were the least likely to have purchased an e-book, at 5% and 8% respectively.

The report reveals that the market for e-books is set for a rapid increase in Brazil and India.
Over 50% of respondents from these two countries said that they were likely to buy an e-book in the next six months, a prediction that would double the number of e-book buyers in India, and triple the number of e-book buyers in Brazil. About a third of respondents in the UK and US say they have plans to purchase an e-book soon, compared to one in five in France, and one in seven in Japan.

Purchase rates in India, Brazil, the UK, US and France are highest in the 25–34 age group, with Australia, Spain, Germany, South Korea and Japan highest among 18-24 year youngs.

“The market for e-books is experiencing exponential growth internationally, with news each week of new e-readers and specialist e-retailers,” said Kelly Gallagher, vice-president, Bowker Market Research. “Publishers and retailers must adapt to a very changed landscape.”

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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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Submit Your e-Book to Worldwide Online Sellers

Mobile media and cloud computing emerged over the past years and enabled the e-book market to rapidly expand worldwide.  Authors and publishers are transmitting their books more and more to foreign booksellers. These are just a few of the numerous possibilities to submit e-books:

China
http://www.360buy.com

Singapore
www.kinokuniya.com.sg

Malaysia
http://www.mphonline.com

Japan
http://www.amazon.co.jp

Hong Kong
http://www.swindonbooks.com

Australia and New Zealand

http://www.booktopia.com.au

http://www.thenile.com.au

http://www.borders.com.au

http://www.collinsbooks.com.au

http://www.dymocks.com.au

http://www.fishpond.co.nz

Canada

http://www.Amazon.ca

http://www.Chapters.indigo.ca

http://itunes.apple.com/ca

United Kingdom

http://www.amazon.co.uk

www.bookdepository.co.uk

http://www.foyles.co.uk

http://www.kobo.co.uk

http://www.whsmith.co.uk

Germany
http://www.amazon.de

France
http://www.amazon.fr

Italy
http://www.amazon.it

Spain
http://www.amazon.es

Brasil
http://www.kindlestore.com.br

United States
http://www.amazon.com

Worldwide Distribution to 32,000 smaller e-book stores

http://www.ingramcontent.com

 

How to Drive Sales to Online Booksellers
Submit your book to Online Booksellers in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, U.K. and U.S.A.
Online Bookseller sites are incredibly powerful and can have a significant impact on sales. They have become a critical part of the bookselling landscape because:

• They are the first place many readers go for information on a title
• Readers who begin their search for an author, title, or topic with a search engine are often immediately directed to one of a number of global retailers
• Online Booksellers are savvy retailers who provide some fantastic marketing opportunities for authors.

What helps to sell your book at online booksellers

Have lots of reviews.
Don’t underestimate the importance of your product page having positive customer reviews and ask your contacts to write reviews for your book. Customer reviews help convert browsers to buyers and a powerful and free way to market your book and can have a great impact on your sales. Research has shown that online shoppers look at the reader reviews and that they very much affect a reader’s decision to buy a particular title.

Create a book trailer.
Online booksellers prefer to show a video on a product page; it increases book sales and customers are hungry for this sort of content. Video is easy to create and can have a real impact. Focus on giving viewers something new that they wouldn’t know just from reading your book: make them feel like they are getting something extra.

Expect more information on selling e-books and how to submit them worldwide on this blog page. Stay tuned!

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Great Opportunity for Authors: Foreign Right Sales

Part 1:   A potentially lucrative market that self-publishers often overlook are Foreign Rights Sales. Foreign Rights Sales and royalties are one of the best deals a writer can get.  Sometimes a foreign rights deal is more lucrative than what your books could earn in your home country.  Even smaller deals can make a big difference in your finances and profile.  And you don’t have to write a single new sentence.

The right to translate and sell a book in another country falls under the umbrella of sub-rights, which include film, merchandising, audio and electronic version, enhanced e-book and multimedia.

For most self-published authors, determining what kind of books sell best in which countries, which publishers are most reputable and which contractual terms are reasonable is pretty difficult. Get the help of an intellectual property attorney who specializes in publishing matters and who drafts one that suits your needs.

A foreign rights agent who has detailed and specialized knowledge is another option. They are attending major international book fairs, especially the Frankfurt, Germany Book Fair, and are in constant contact with international agents and editors to discuss deals and work out contracts.

Royalties can greatly vary from country to country, which makes it important to know what kinds of books will sell in each area. A business or science book has tremendous potential in Asia. Literary fiction does well in France. Italy is good for women’s fiction. Brazil loves dogs and inspirational books, and they have been buying early and aren’t shy about six-figure advances for the right book.

Even if you self-published your e-book you can offer the manuscript to a literary agency for consideration of international rights. One prominent literary agency, Folio Literary Management  has an active foreign rights department that does hundreds of deals for their clients every year.

Foreign rights sales can be complicated by the fluctuating currency exchange. But for most authors, the advantages of foreign sales far outweigh any drawbacks. And for authors exhausted by the seemingly endless presence at social media sites, book signings, interviews, blog tours and other non-writing activities that have become an essential part of book promotion, foreign rights sales are the more attractive as their foreign editions are promoted by the publisher who bought these rights.

Being successfully self-published opens the door to foreign sales and also provides a better chance of being signed by a major publisher since you already have an established audience – which is so important in publishing today.

Another option is to translate (if you are bi-lingual), or let your book translate by a professional (give it to an editor afterward in order to have it polished) and sell it directly through Amazon in these countries – generating totally new markets for your book. As of this writing, outside of the USA, Amazon books and Kindle Readers / Tablets are available in Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, Austria as well as in Japan, Australia and China.

Find and pitch your book to a foreign rights person.
Contact agents or publishers for foreign rights / translations in your home country or attend the world-biggest and most important annual Frankfurt (Germany) Book Fair and establish connections to publishers / agents from all over the world.

To find names, addresses and other information about publishers worldwide refer to http://www.publishersglobal.com

The listings are sorted by country, language, subject etc. and you can contact these publishers instantly and without incurring high cost or set up an appointment with them at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Foreign publishers have the opportunity to discover new authors and potentially pick up the rights to their works for much less money than they might when working with a traditional publisher or agent.

Benefits of an agent
Publishers rely on them to sort through all the contract work and know that books sent to them by good agents are worth their time considering. But most importantly, agents know what a book is worth and will negotiate the best deal for you. There are instances of publishers working directly with authors, but it’s a long shot. Publishers know authors are inexperienced in negotiating and desperate, so it’s highly likely the authors didn’t get the best deal possible.

Agents work on a commission basis, usually 15% of advances and subsequent royalties. The author pays nothing up front; the agents only get paid if they produce.

Most foreign agents work with a co-agent in the author’s country, who feed them books to market, which already have a proven sales track record in the author’s country. In these cases, the two agents usually split a 20% commission.

Don’t miss Part 2 within the next days

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Literary Agents That Are Actively Seeking Manuscripts

 

Literary Agents certainly will not offer you a book deal right away, even if they like your work. Collecting manuscripts and then offering them to editors at suitable publishing houses is what they do – and this can take months…

Literary Agent Paul Lucas
He joined Janklow & Nesbit Associates in 2007 and began representing authors in 2010 and is interested in a wide variety of commercial and literary fiction, as well as specific nonfiction.

Fiction:
Character and plot driven novels but it’s important to him for the storytelling to be clear and accessible.

Genre fiction:
thrillers, spy, science fiction and fantasy genre writing, as well as literary novels. He appreciates a literary bent, subverting genre and darker, conflicted characters in historical fiction and war novels.

Non-fiction:
Popular science books, new ways of exploring the major sports and narrative histories.

He does not represent romance, westerns, women’s fiction, memoir, self-help, children’s or picture books.

How to submit:
Please send an attachment with the first 3 chapters of your book, a synopsis and brief bio to your queries and send them to plucas (at) janklow (dot) com.

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Kat Salazar
She joined Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in February 2011 as an intern for the agency working directly for agency co-founder Elizabeth Pomada. Previously she worked for University of Washington Press as a Marketing Assistant and held internships at University of California Press, HarperOne of Harper Collins, and Wales Literary Agency. Currently, she is the Publishing Assistant at Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari Press as well as the agency’s newest Associate Agent and the San Francisco Writers Conference Social Media Coordinator.

Kat is actively looking for young adult, middle grade, and children’s picture books.
For adult audiences, she is interested in literary fiction and urban fantasy.

For more about Kat you can follow her on Twitter at @KatLovesBooks or read her blog:
http://www.KatLovesBooks.blogspot.com.

How to submit:
Please query her with the first 10 pages of your manuscript and a 1-2-page synopsis copied and pasted into the body of an e-mail to QueryKatSalazar (at) gmail (dot) com.

from http://www.writersdigest.com

Sign up for their newsletter to receive regularly literary news.
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Which Literary Agent is Right for You?

Smaller, independent publishers will still accept queries and read manuscripts from new writers. But if your goal is to sell your book to one of the six big publishers, you better search for an agent. How and where do you find literary agents?

Start with the current Writers Market. Their listing contains all members of the AAR (Association of Authors Representatives), who do not charge for reading, critiquing and editing.  Authors in Canada find literary agents in an online listing of the Association of Canadian Publishers.  A listing of 239 literary agents in Europe, North America and other parts of the world can be found at Publishers Global, one of the most comprehensive resource for all things publishing.

When you check out the agent, you’ll want to contact “Writer Beware”
They explain: “Time-crunched editors, who must devote their days to administrative tasks and have to shunt their actual editing work to nights and weekends, simply have no time to sift through submissions. More and more, they rely on agents as a filtering mechanism.

Most first novel sales, at least to the larger publishers, occur through agents.  Verify that this agent has a substantial, verifiable track record of selling books to commercial publishers, or, if new, a professional background in publishing or with another reputable agency.”

Before you contact an agent, read and follow:

• Submission Guidelines
• Query Policy
• What (genre) is the agent is currently looking for
• How to submit (email, online form or snail mail)

To get to know your future literary agent better, take your time to study carefully their websites / blogs to get an idea of their personality – as you will have many consultations during your writing career with this person. You should feel comfortable with the way they approach their clients. Going through some of the websites and blogs you will realize the huge spectrum of personalities among agents.

In the meantime edit, and then self-publish your manuscript as an e-book.  Who knows, maybe through professional social media marketing and your terrific platform it is such a success that agents will contact you!

BookEnds  http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

Nadia Cornier  http://agentobvious.livejournal.com/

DHS Literary  http://dhsliterary.blogspot.com/

Dystel & Goderich  http://www.dystel.com

Full Circle Lit  http://fullcirclelit.blogspot.com/

Barry Goldblatt  http://bgliterary.livejournal.com/

Jennifer Jackson  http://arcaedia.livejournal.com/

John Jarrold (UK agent)  http://jjarrold.livejournal.com/

Knight Agency  http://knightagency.net/blog/

Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency http://luciennediver.wordpress.com/

Colleen Lindsay: http://theswivet.blogspot.com/

Jonathan Lyons (Lyons Literary)  http://lyonsliterary.blogspot.com/

Laurie McLean (Larson Pomada Agency)  http://www.agentsavant.com/

Kristin Nelson  http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

Anna McDermid & Assoc.  http://mcdermidagency.blogspot.com/

Lori Perkins  http://agentinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

Janet Reid (of FinePrint)  http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

Kate Schafer  http://ktliterary.com/archives.html

Agent Sydney (Australian agent)  http://callmyagent.blogspot.com/

Andrew Zack  http://www.zackcompany.blogspot.com/

Rachelle Gardner  http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Swayze http://www.swayzeagency.com/aboutus.html

Gabriela Lessa  http://gabrielalessa.com/

Scott Waxman  http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents

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Hyper Smash