An Author's Guide to the Publishing World by Nisha Emich

an authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide

d l r o w g n i h s i l b u p e h t o t

by naomi eastman

About the Author naomi

eastman

is an internationally renowned publisher and author, who has worked at numerous publishing houses in her home city of London. Starting her career as a publicity assistant at Simon & Schuster, Naomi has worked in a variety of departments, spending time in editorial, rights, sales, before finding herself in her current position as the marketing director of Penguin RandomHouse. Naomi is a self-proclaimed ‘obsessive’ about the ways publishers and authors can work together to create high-quality work, and get that work to its widest possible audience. Naomi has written a number of ‘How-To’ guides for young publishing professionals, including the award-winning So you wanna be on top [of the publishing game]?, but this is her first book directed specifically at authors.

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Table of Contents 6|

saying hello

contracts + f inances

10 |

editorial

12 |

marketing + publicity

14 |

rights + sales

16 |

key terms + further reading

18 |

last words

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Welcome to my world So you’ve written a book, and your brother, your best mate, and your dentist all think its the best thing ever – or they shrugged and muttered sometime about it being ‘alright’ after you insisted they read it for the hundredth time, but same difference right? Where do we go from here? If you’re really committed to making your career as an author work you have to be self-assured and proactive. Hopefully this guide will give you enough knowledge to make you feel that you can be the one in control of your career. The publishing world is changing, there’s no point being shy about it, and no one is that certain about what direction it’s going to go in. In 2015 Nigel Newton, an executive director for Bloomsbury, described the book business as ‘poised... on a cliff edge’; not everyone is so pessimistic, HarperCollins Worldwide CEO Brian Murray likened the industry to a ‘Formula One car, revving up for a new golden age’. Huge advancements in the digital world, which have made successfully self-publishing a real possibility, has made it a priority for publishers to remain at the top of their game. The process of publication is simply to make something publicly

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available, and the internet makes that possible for everyone with access to a computer. However, this has lead to an enormous rise in published material, making it increasingly difficult for authors to be noticed. Making and selling a book is a complicated process, and the publishing industry has years of experience in it. While no author likes to take the romance out of the writing process, publishing is a business and its goal is to make a profit. Working with a professional publishing house has a wealth of benefits, but your experience is only as good as what you know and how much you put into it. This comprehensive guide will take you through the various departments in a publishing house, highlighting their numerous qualities, and hopefully will convince you that while self-publishing is an option, it is not your best one.

now yours . . . a word about Literary Agents Before you get involved with the world of editors, designers, marketing directors, and sales managers, you need to find someone who can fight your battles. An author isn’t a publishing professional, and to expect you to be one is a big ask. Cue literary agents. Your agent is your main connection to the publishing industry, and through them you will submit your manuscript to publishers, negotiate contracts, and generally fight to ensure your rights are established and upheld. A good agent makes an enormous difference to your publishing experience, and choosing the right agent for you is not a process to take lightly! The Association of Authors’ Agents is a good place to begin searching for an agent, check out their website at www.agentsassoc.co.uk.

Tip:

When initially contacting agents with your work, do your research! Find out what kind of authors and stories are on different agents’ lists and figure out where you will fit.

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Contracts The Society of Authors exists to protect authors’ interests in the face of large publishing conglomerates, and a primary objective to this goal is to educate authors about contracts. Understanding the specifics of a contract is paramount to ensuring you get what you want out of a publishing deal. In English Law a verbal contract is as binding as a written one. However, you should always ensure that a proper contract is drawn up in order to protect your interests, as a contract will outline the commercial terms and accounts of the deal (in layman’s terms: how much you get paid), guarantee a publisher’s commitment to publish your work, as well as establishing the various terms relating to exclusivity and period of copyright, and subsidiary rights. It is important to remember that there are certain aspects of a contract that a publisher will consider non-negotiable, such as the Author’s Warranties and Indemnities (ultimately to ensure the work you produce is of a high quality and doesn’t contain any infringement of copyright, or libellous material), a non-compete clause, and the right to final decisions on the format and

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presentation of the work. The last one can prove tricky, it is hard to accept that the final visual outlook of your book will be in someone else’s hands. However, it will be experienced professionals (who do excessive market research) will be the ones who design the look of your book, giving it its best chance to compete in the market! I’ll take a brief moment here to fully explain what Advances and Royalties are, as these are probably two of the most important terms to any author out there! Your advance is what a publisher pays for your manuscript, if bought in an auction where other publishing houses are competing these can be quite high, and this money is yours no matter how well, or not so well, your book does. The royalties are payments made to you based on your book’s sales, however you will only be eligible to receive royalties if your advance has been ‘earned out’, that is, the amount of money generated due to sales exceeds your initial advance.

Finances

show me the money easy to buy into rumours and gossip of a crumbling industry, diminishing in the face of digital expansion, you must remain positive about the innovation and growth that exists in publishing. Digital is not necessarily a competitor for print, but can work alongside it to create further revenue, which grew to 35% in 2014. The children’s sector has also significantly increased over the Author royalties recent years, with children’s digital sales rising to 36% and the sector up 11% overall.

The Publishing industry is a £4.3billion sector and it can seem confusing to understand how that money is divided up. On a smaller scale you need to be aware of how the sales generated from you book will end up paying back numerous costs before making a profit (this is shown to an approximate degree in the chart below). While its

potentia

l prof it

10%

30%

20%

tion produc

marketing, warehouse & distribution

cost

30%

Overhead [ salaries, off ice cost , insurance etc;

Approximate percentage of a book’s net sales revenue - figures taken from Kelvin Smith’s ‘The Publishing Business: from p-books to e-books’ |9|

Editorial Editors are here to transform your manuscript into the best version it can be, weeding out even the most miniscule of problems. No one can know your story better than you, after all its your blood, your sweat, your tears that have poured into it... but sometimes you can be its worst enemy. After spending hours working tireless-

step back so you ly to get your manuscript into good enough shape that you are happy to send it off to a publisher (and by you, I mean your agent. Open submissions are rare in publishing houses, and the inability to pick up an agent with a decent manuscript spells trouble for your future bestseller!), you might think its as good as its gonna get, but the benefit of a fresh eye is truly unparalleled. While you might think your mother/neighbour/work colleague is a good enough second opinion, one of the greatest merits of traditional publishing is the benefit of an editor’s wealth of experience. Trust me, it’s in their interest that your book is at its best before hitting the marketplace. In order to acquire a book your editor will have to make an impassioned case to the rest of the company about why they believe in it, and why they believe it will sell. Your editor is the person who gave your book a chance and they are on your side!

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“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” Stephen King

can see the /bigger picture Your place in the editorial process is in a phase called ‘structural editing’, where your editor will try to work out any issues with the plot, characters, dialogue, point of view, pace, and tone of your story. Once the manuscript passes this stage it goes to a copy editor (often freelance), who will ensure the text reads easily (no missing chapter headlines or confusing transitions) as well as picking up inaccuracies and poor wording. Your manuscript is now ready to be typeset (aka. put into a format appropriate for print), before being rigorously proofread, and finally going to press! That sounds a bit daunting doesn’t it? But it benefits no one to be intimidated by a professional editing process, both you and your publisher ultimately loose out. One of the most noted complaints about the publishing process is a lack of communication between authors and publishers, and whilst I’m hardly going to suggest the blame lies at the author’s feet, you can be proactive about reminding your editor that you want your voice to be heard. However, it is important to remember that it is highly unlikely that your manuscript is the only one an

acquisition structua<l edi t < copy edit < typeset

proof < press editor is working on, and your best defence in not getting lost is a fairly easy one: be the kind of author an editor wants to make a priority. This means understanding that comments and critiques aren’t attacks, but in your best interest, and, above all, don’t be late. Having made the decision to publish your book via a professional publisher means you have an enormous amount of people across a range of departments working to make your book – if you miss deadlines you are holding up this process right at the start and no one will thank you for it.

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Marketing

visbility visbility visibilit y As the publishing industry has evolved, as have the centres of gravity within a publishing house. While for many years editors might have been considered the lifeblood of publishing, in order to remain viable in a competitive marketplace the focus is being heavily placed on marketing and publicity. What about sales? Well we’ll discuss what the sales team do on the follow-

of book readers buy from Amazon, getting your book out there isn’t enough, you need readers to be aware of it and want to find it. Effective marketing is ultimately very simple, it follows five basic principles (these aren’t exclusive to book marketing, the practice is largely similar across a variety of industries and fields): WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW? Who is your audience, what is the message you

who what where when how ing page, but it is worthwhile to explain why marketing is considered more important by publishers. Approximately ten years ago sales was at the forefront of everyone’s minds, when retailers were almost entirely physical and consumers’ primary purchasing platform. In the digital world, where the majority

are trying to get across, where will you show that message, when will you release it, and how will that message be conveyed. Whilst that sounds simple, it is actually an incredibly disciplined practice that makes use of every new piece of consumer insight technology available. Even writing the 40 word

“Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it | 12 |

Publicity blurb used to describe your book on Amazon is an exact science, finely tuned to maximise search engine optimisation. Moreover, marketing teams work with large amounts of metadata in order to establish what kind of audiences would respond well to your book and how to reach them. Publicity is where an author can really get involved. Whilst the romantic idea of being the next J D Salinger in all his reclusive glory might appeal to you, authors have enormous power in helping books sell. Your publicist is there to show you off to the world, whether thats through print interviews, television appearances, book tours and signings. Social Media is an equally important platform for authors to engage with their readers directly, but it is most effective when it suits the kind of author you are and the kind of work you’re producing. Even the most hesitant of authors can find exciting ways to connect – David Mitchell, for example, was pushed by Jessica Killingley (the marketing director at Hodder)

to try his hand at twitter. 24 hours later he began releasing 140 words of a short story, twice a day, at peak commuter times, ultimately leading to his newest fiction venture Slade House. At the end of the day, if you want to build a career you have to put all of yourself into it. While your publisher will do their best to help you, your destiny is your own making. Finally, at the acquisition stage you will most likely be asked to answer an Author Questionnaire, which will feed into the way your book is marketed and publicised. Please don’t be hasty with small requests like this, they can have enormous impact on the future of your book and taking the time to do them properly puts you off to a great start!

into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land”

margaret atwood

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Rights Sales Subsidiary rights play an important part for both authors and publishers. On a financial basis the sale of subsidiary rights increases the profit that a particular title brings in for a publishing house – and royalties for the author! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves – first, what exactly are ‘subsidiary’ rights? Well, your book has the ability to transform into a multimedia object; an audiobook could be recorded, a film, TV show, or play might be created, it may be translated into various languages across the world. Each of these possibilities is a ‘right’, and each needs to be legally assigned to the publisher if they are going to sell them on. Certain agents will prefer to not give over subsidiary rights during the contract stage, believing they can sell these themselves (and presumably make a larger profit for them and their authors). However, it is important to have a think about ensuring the widest possible reach for your material, and a publishing house’s extensive connections can help in selling rights competitively. Equally, if you are too resistant to assigning rights a publisher may see less profitable potential in

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your book, and grow less inclined to publish it – translation rights at the very least are usually expected to be handed over to your publisher. Don’t worry, this isn’t much of a sacrifice! As publishers increasingly operate in large global markets (Hachette is an excellent example) they have the knowledge and infrastructure to ensure your book goes where it needs to. So what about sales? Obviously the goal is to ‘sell’ rights, but the sales and rights departments are two separate teams in most publishing houses and have different purposes. The sales department is concerned with trying to sell as many copies of your book as possible, and therefore responsible for estimating how many books to print. Over printing books can cause huge losses to publishers, as they will either take up warehouse space unsold, or have to be pulped. Improving technology means that predictions are growing increasingly more accurate, meaning less harm to profits, as well as the environment! Developments in printing engineering also play a helpful

e m e k a t to higher places

part, since books can be printed more quickly lower quantities of initial print runs are made possible – this also opens up room for print-on-demand services, which eradicates these concerns entirely. Sales teams are responsible for establishing what markets your book will perform best in, and pushing it onto those retailers. Three key distinctions to be aware of are mass retailers (supermarkets), high-street retailers (Waterstones and WHSmith), and independent retailers. Amazon, of course, is also a retailer of paramount importance. A significant difference between Amazon and other retailers is that Amazon sells everything – pretty much every book in print can be found on Amazon. The problem with such an oversaturated market is that making a book stand out is extremely difficult, this is when having a sales (and marketing) team on your side proves very helpful indeed! Alongside the sales team is the interna-

tional sales team. There is a growing market for English language books all over the world, in fact approximately 44% of the publishing industry’s total revenue comes from export sales. The international sales team is often divided into territories (common ones are Northern Europe - Germany, for example, is a massive market, hence the importance of the infamous Frankfurt Bookfair – Australia, Singapore and the Philippines, India) and will travel extensively, working tirelessly to sell your book.

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Key Terms

knowledge is power

advance copy

Early copies of a book printed before the main print run, often used for review purposes.

backlist

Books by a publisher that are still in print from previous years (successfully sold books and classics are often found on a backlist).

blurb

A short quote or text used to promote a book (also: cover copy or AIS text).

co-edition

An edition of a book published simultaneously by more than one publisher, often in a different country and language.

colophon

1) publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s logo 2) information about the publisher, printer, typography and design, and production of a book.

copy

Simply: Text. For example the text in a typescript, or the cover copy (also: blurb).

The exclusive legal right (and ability to assign that right) to print, publish, transform, or to otherwise use original work - assigned to the author for the length of his or her life, +70 years.

defamation

Any statement that would lower a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation. If untrue, defamation can be libelous or slanderous. This can cause legal issues to authors and publicers, particularly in the case of biographies.

embargo

Instruction given to retailers stating that a book cannot be sold before the nominal publication date. This is extremely important for high-profile series, for instance, Harry Potter.

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