Question: What happens inside the publishing house after I receive my contract and sign it? Answer: I’ve been asked this question many times–and unless you have personally worked inside a publishing house, it’s very difficult to answer it satisfactorily. The short answer is that a lot of activity is happening inside the publishing house after…
Category Archives: Book Publishing
The Facts of Publishing Life
Every year I see a flood of emails and calls from authors and would-be publishers. 2013 is off to a rollicking start. For the first time, I got a call from a guy who said he had a manuscript written in longhand. In pencil. And it wasn’t finished. And he didn’t know what it was…
Top Ten Signs You’re a Lazy Author
If you want to be a successful author, you will be a busy one. Books do not sell themselves, and being lazy, whether it’s while writing the book or when promoting it, is going to end up with poor results. Here are some things not to do if you want to be successful as an…
How Book Shepherds Can Help Authors
I recommend authors look into hiring a book shepherd for a current or upcoming writing and publishing project. A book shepherd is someone whose expertise in books and publishing will help you throughout the entire book process. From cover art, editing, dealing with Amazon to locating a printer, a book shepherd will assist you from…
A Love Of Print Books Is In Our Human Nature
In this increasingly disillusioned and greedy world in which we live it seems to be the most important aspects of our society and of our human nature that suffer. I consider the world of physical books to be a sacred and essential part of our humanity and yet many regard this domain as out-dated and…
Four Options for eBook Production
Anyone who has even a half an ear to the publishing world has heard the horror stories—books by well-known authors from big publishing houses in eBook formats that are an embarrassment to all concerned. I suppose this type of thing is inevitable with any new cultural phenomenon, especially a phenomenon in which a buck can…
Why Every CEO Should Write and Publish a Book
I often hear CEOs saying that as the market has been so badly hit by the recession, they can’t really afford to take time out to write a book. My response is quite simply, you can’t afford not to! It’s precisely when times get tough that customers start scrutinising their purchases and looking for the…
Digital vs. Physical: Print Books and Physical Presence Being Replaced?
In the midst of the rise of ebooks, I’ve heard some buzz among authors lately, saying that print books are out. “Don’t bother getting hard copies of your books published! As long as they’re available electronically, you’re good.” I can’t say that I agree with that. Ebooks are great. They’re convenient, cost effective, and don’t…
Some People Think Your Book Has No Right to Exist
While I was at the London Book last April, one lady stood up and gave a seminar on how there were an ‘awful lot of bad books out there’. Another said that more and more writers are now expected to bear more of the risk – and even go as far as to complete their…
Sell No Book Before Its Time
An engineer can look at the foundation of a building under construction and tell you its eventual height. The deeper the base, the higher the structure will be. Similarly, an independent publisher must create a strong foundation to support a title’s future growth. This preparation is performed in five phases. 1) The Planning Phase Focus…
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