Should You Begin Writing Anything Before a Payment or Contract?

by Gus | Nov 25, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

A big issue for many writers is what to do after you get a publishing or job offer. What if the publisher or employer has a tight deadline, and to make the deadline you have to start writing before you get a payment or get a signed contract? Should you get started and risk not getting paid or not getting the contract? Or should you wait, which could mean losing the job or the contract?

The answer is, as they say in the law, it depends. What to do depends on such factors as how much money is at stake, how much work you have to put in before the promised payment or contract arrives, and how solid and trustworthy the individual or a company is that you will work for. Then, too, there is consideration that the person hiring you could change his or her mind or the possibility that the client is a subcontractor for a client, so if the ultimate client doesn’t pay or changes his or her mind, you could be unpaid for any work you do before you receive any payment on the project.

I began thinking about this issue after I was hired by a client who was putting together a book and website for another client. Initially, this subcontractor just wanted a book and wanted a proposed fee for doing the whole project. But after I bid and got the job, the subcontractor said he wanted a website included, too. But not wanting to lose the job, I didn’t say anything about the change, figuring the website write-up would only take a few hours. Then, since he had a short deadline on the website copy and his staff couldn’t send the contract and check until the following Monday, I agreed to start on Friday. In making this decision, I even turned down an offer for a credit card payment, since Master Card would take 4%. But after I edited a Frequently Asked Questions section and got the go-ahead to do more, I found the instructions about the website copy unclear, and after I turned in a few pages for feedback, the subcontractor called to cancel the contract for both the book and the website, saying he didn’t have time to do any more reviews and no longer wanted me to do the book, so he wouldn’t be sending the contract or advance check. But I had already spent about 5 hours unpaid on the project. At first, he tried to get out of paying me, though ultimately he agreed to pay, saying my offer to accept $500 for the work I had done “sounded good,” though later he sent me a check marked “In protest.” After it went through, I decided it best not to respond to explain anything. “He’s just messing with you,” another writer told me. But the incident got me thinking about payments and contracts generally.

I’ve worked with dozens of publishers where it can take several weeks or even a month or two to get a finalized contract, and then the payment often doesn’t arrive until 30 to 45 days after that. But the deadline for submitting the copy means I need to start writing it before the contract arrives. But whenever this has happened, my experience has been that the contract does arrive and so does the payment. In some cases, where the publisher has a no-advance contract, which means no payment until several months after the book is successfully published and generates sales, the book has almost always been published and eventually I have gotten royalties. So with established publishers, working before the contract or payment arrives has usually been fine.

I and other writers have also generally had success in getting paid after doing some work or completing a project with larger, established companies. Commonly, they hire a number of writers, as well as other employees and contractors, and have a policy in which writers do the work and submit a bill to get paid – generally within 10 to 30 days. Usually there is an agreement describing what is to be written, sometimes called the “deliverable,” and the writing usually begins after getting the contract, with the payment following within a short time after delivering the work.

However, when it comes to writing for individual clients or small companies, that’s when problems arise, and there can be little recourse if the individual or company doesn’t pay, especially when they are located in another state, or worse, another country. It takes time and effort to go to small claims court, and you can’t use small claims court for an out-of state or out-of country client, plus you can encounter many difficulties in trying to collect even with a judgment from a debtor who doesn’t want to pay.

Thus, I have come to realize that in working with private individuals or small companies, it is best to either get a retainer or set up a pay-as-you-go arrangement using a credit card. Then, whether or not you are getting a contract too, don’t do any work until you are paid in advance. Clients may express a concern about paying you and then not getting the work, but they have an easy way to complain and get a refund if this is the case, by appealing to their credit card company or to PayPal. But if you aren’t paid, you don’t have the option. You have to depend on the client’s willingness to pay.

It may be fine to arrange for a payment by check, credit card, or PayPal after you do the work once you have established an ongoing trusting relationship with a client. But until then, initially, it is better to get paid before or at the time you do the work, however the client wants to pay (check, credit card, PayPal, or even cash). As one writer associate put it, “I don’t put pen to paper until I am paid up-front and receive any signed contract that’s required for the project. And if the client has a tight deadline making it difficult to get me the payment or contract, then that’s the client’s problem. He or she should do better planning. I simply won’t write anything until I have at least a partial deposit or retainer up front.”

So that’s my recommendation. Use a “pay to play” approach in dealing with individuals and small companies, and try to get this arrangement with larger companies if you can, but if not, take the chance they will be good for the money, if they pay after you do some or all of the writing. You may lose out on some writing assignments from individuals and small companies as a result. But you will save yourself a lot of problems from clients who don’t pay after you have done the work.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, is the author of over 50 books with major publishers, including two on the writing and publishing books: FIND PUBLISHERS AND AGENTS AND GET PUBLISHED and SELL YOUR BOOK, SCRIPT, OR COLUMN. She has written and produced over 50 short films, has written 15 scripts for features, and has one feature film she wrote and executive produced scheduled for release in February 2015. She also writes scripts for clients, and has several book and film industry Meetup groups which have meetings to discuss members’ books and films. She is the Creative Director for Publishers Agents and Films.

Searching for Publishers

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

When you are searching for a publisher for your book, it is important to not only target publishers who are interested in your type of book but the specific editors who handle that subject. The way to do this is by using keywords, such as “historical,” “relationships,” “ self-help,” and so forth, although this is not a perfect science, since these searches will pull up some editors who still don’t handle that particular type of book within the category selected. But at least, this kind of search for publishers will help to narrow the field.

When you do this search, there are a number of sources you can use, such as the Writers Market directories that come out annually, the Literary Marketplace, which has an online database of publishers, the Publishers Marketplace, or some companies that sell data. However, using such sources of information can be expensive and time consuming – and some data can be out of date.

For example, the Writers Market directors for publishers, agents, and children’s publishers and agents which come out in September for the following year are about $25 each, but because of the delay in publishing and distribution, some of the contact information may have already changed or some companies may be out of business. There is an online directory you can access after buying a book, but you have to do individual searches, and some of the information may not have been updated.

In the case of Literary Marketplace, you need a paid subscription to get more than a physical address, and the cost is $25 for a week, $399 for a year; and Publishers Marketplace has a subscription fee of $25 a year. The other companies that sell data have other fees, and typically they only sell you a portion of their total database or allow you to send queries to a limited number of publishers who you have selected from their database.

But even if you have a direct access to the data, you have to then select the publishers to contact individually and create a mailing list or database from that, and then you have to do individual mailings unless you create your own database for multiple mailings.

By contrast, a company like The Publishing Connection has already bought the books and subscriptions has created a database with keyword codes to indicate what a publisher is interested in, do their own mailings every 4 to 6 weeks, to update their database of publishers with the latest information, and can do targeted mailings for you within a day of getting your final letter. Plus the company uses special software to personalize an email to the selected contacts and use anyone’s email for the “send” and “reply” addresses, so any interested editors and publishers think you have written personally to them and reply directly to you. So the big advantage is that you don’t have the time and expense of creating the contact list in the first place and then you can quickly send out your personalized query letter to several hundred editors within minutes – not the usual days it might take you if you send out individual queries.

Also, consider the letter you send out. It has to be written well and have a compelling and specific subject line to get recipients to open the letter, and often writers who might be great in writing their books don’t know how to write a good query letter. Some common errors are that it’s too detailed or too vague, uses sales or PR hype so it sounds too promotion, or otherwise does quickly convey what the book is about and offer to send more information (such as a synopsis, proposal with sample chapters, or the complete manuscript). Then, too, some writers put in information that is a deal breaker, such as describing a self-published book, which most publishers won’t consider, unless it has had strong sales of thousands of books. Thus, it can be extremely effective to work with a company with experienced writers who can review your letter and make any suggestions for rewriting if necessary or can write your letter for you.

Finally, think about the stats for sending out your letters. How many letters are actually delivered? How many are opened? The Publishing Connection has started keeping such stats after sending out about 5000 queries, and has found that for book publishers, about 90-95% of the queries are delivered, and about 75% are opened, with no unsubscribes or spam reports, and a very small .20% bounce rate, because of the regular updates.

For more information on selecting publishers, along with writing an effective query letter, you can contact The Publishing Connection at www.thepublishingconnection.com. You can email hipshire@thepublishingconnection.com, or call (415) 358-1601.
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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, is the author of over 50 books with major publishers, including two on the film industry: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING, PRODUCING, AND DIRECTING A LOW-BUDGET SHORT FILM and FINDING FUNDS FOR YOUR FILM OR TV PROJECT, both published by Hal Leonard. She has written and produced over 50 short films, has written 15 scripts for features, has three other films in preproduction, and has one feature film she wrote and executive produced in post-production for release in November 2014. She also writes scripts for clients, and has several film industry Meetup groups which have meetings to discuss members’ films. She is a writer and consultant for The Publishing Connection.

The Steps to Write Your Book, Find Publishers and Agents, and Get Published

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

Here’s a quick overview of things to keep in mind when you write your book, look for publishers and agents, or decide to publish your book yourself. The Publishing Connection can help with any phase of this process.

Writing Your Book
• Collect your blogs, articles, or journal notes into a book
• Use transcripts from your workshops, seminars, or talks to groups
• Do interviews and have them transcribed
• Develop a chapter by chapter outline for what to include and target future blogs, articles, journal postings, interviews, etc. to fill in each chapter
• Dedicate 1-2 hours a day for writing, or consider a ghostwriter

What You Need to Pitch Your Book to a Traditional Publisher
• If your book is fiction and you are unpublished, you normally have to complete the book, plus create a 1-2 page single spaced synopsis.
• If your book is nonfiction, you generally need to write a proposal plus 1-3 chapters to submit to agents and/or publishers, even if the book is completed. The beginning of the proposal is generally 10-15 pages, and includes an overview of the book, chapter by chapter outline, and plan for completing the book. It also should include a market and competitors section listing similar or related books already published, the publisher, and how the book is doing; an author’s bio; and an author’s platform section, indicating what PR you have gotten in the past and how you can help support the book in the future.
• Unless you already have an agent or knowledgeable rep pitching your book, you need to write a query letter or have one written for you to send to publishers/editors and/or agents.

Contacting Publishers and Agents about Your Book
• If you can contact publishers or agents at conferences, workshops, and through personal referrals, that’s ideal.
• If you already have an agent, make sure your agent is continuing to pitch your book; you might also propose supplementing what the agent does by making some contact with publishers yourself; some agents will welcome this; others not so much. If you do make some of your own contacts, be sure to check with your agent in advance to make sure not to contact anyone your agent has already contacted. Then, keep your agent aware of the responses, and refer any editor or publisher who expresses interest to your agent for follow-up.
• If you feel your agent is no longer actively representing your book, it’s time to end your agreement and find a new agent or pitch the book yourself.
• If you plan to query traditional publishers and agents, don’t self-publish the same book, unless you have a very powerful platform and can build large sales for this book. Publishers don’t want to publish a book that already has been published, unless there are big sales.
• A good approach is self-publishing a book to build your platform and sell it yourself; then pitch a follow-up or related book to mainstream publishers and agents.

Sending an E-Mail Query to Publishers and Agents
• If you don’t have an agent or personal connections for contacting agents or publishers, an e-mail query can be an effective way to contact them.
• You can contact a large number of editors and agents with a personalized query, so they respond directly to you. We can help you send out these queries to hundreds of agents and editors based on your type of book. For details: www.thepublishingconnection.com.
• While many editors at major publishers want submissions by an agent, some will accept queries from writers and some will make exceptions for a really good query letter.
• When you send a query don’t include attachments or graphics, since a regular text query is more likely to be received and read, but you can include links to a website. Editors and agents often will not open any attachments due to fears about viruses, trojans, and other malware.
• Keep your query letter short and to the point, since a successful query letter is typically about 300-400 words, and no more than 500 words, and includes these key components:
1) A strong subject line to attract interest; it should indicate specifically what your book or script is about and be in upper and lower case, Title Case, or Sentence case.
2) A short summary statement of 1 or 2 sentences highlighting what the book or script is about and what makes it especially interesting and salable.
3) Two to three paragraphs describing the plot of a fiction book, the main topics covered in a nonfiction book, or the main plot points in a script.
4) A sentence or two about the book or script’s key selling points and why the book or script is marketable to your main audience.
5) A short paragraph about your own background, including what may have inspired the book or script, and recent highlights about previous publications or films, writing, and relevant work experience.
6) A sentence or two about any PR or promotion you have already gotten.
7) A final sentence indicating if the recipient is interested, you would be glad to submit a more detailed synopsis, proposal, sample chapters, or the complete manuscript.
8) Be prepared to follow-up within a week or 10 days with a proposal, synopsis, sample chapters or complete manuscript, or a script treatment.
9) Include personal contact information at the end, including your name, company if any, city, state (full address and zip is optional, though good to include), website if you have one, phone, and email.

Self-Publishing Your Book
• A simple low-cost way to publish your book is as a Print-On-Demand (POD) book through CreateSpace and Kindle, though there are multiple services with various pricing plans. You can use one of their templates or design your own cover, and you can order as many or as few books as you want at about 1/3 of the retail price.
• Generally you need the final copy formatted according to the publisher’s guidelines in a WordDocument or PDF, with appropriate margins and any graphics or photos in the text.
• While you can self-publish yourself, we can guide you through the process or set up everything for you.
• Keep the pricing low to attract sales – about $9.95-14.95 is a good price point for a paperback book; $2.99 for an e-book.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: HOW TO FIND PUBLISHERS AND AGENTS AND GET PUBLISHED and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY.

How to Decide Which Publisher to Work With

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

How do you decide which publisher to go with if you have publisher interest? If you have already chosen an agent to work with, the answer is simple. Usually, you will turn over the contact information for each publisher and the agent will follow-up, along with contacting other publishers the agents feel is right for your book. Then, your agent will recommend which publisher or publishers to negotiate with and work out the details.

However, if you don’t have an agent, you will need to decide yourself and negotiate any agreement on your own or perhaps with some input from an attorney. Though make sure your attorney is familiar with publishing; otherwise the attorney may bring up some points that are not negotiable and could kill the deal.

When you do have multiple publishers or any publisher interested, the initial process is much like what you would do in evaluating an agent. You do an assessment to decide the best fit, and after that, if there is more than one publisher in the running, look to your intuition or gut feelings to help you decide.

As part of this assessment, look at the size of the publisher. If it is one of the big six, now five, including any of the big five’s imprints, that’s usually a strong plusfor that publisher, since the clout of a big publisher will increase your credibility and is likely to result in better distribution, promotion, and sales, though there are no guarantees.

In the event that you have more than one editor from a publishing house interested in your book, you need to tell them about this situation. A good way to do this is to initially work with the first editor who has expressed interest and let the other editors know. You can explain that you weren’t sure who to contact and let the editors work it out for themselves who will handle your book.

Next, in conducting your assessment, look at the different books the publisher handles to see what other books have been published in your category. There should be others for this to be a good fit. You can get a sense of how well these books have done by looking at each title on Amazon and checking the ranking – the lower the number the better. Consider any rank under 10,000 to be a good showing. Generally, the other books that have been published will be in your subject area (i.e.: business books, self-help books, general interest, etc.). But sometimes a publisher may want to move into a new area or create a new imprint for a different type of book, which is fine. In fact, a publisher may even give these books a greater promotion to establish the category. However, if there’s clearly a mismatch and this is a small publisher, this could be a warning sign, such as if you have a business book or memoir and the publisher is specializing in health and nutrition books.

Another important consideration is the size of the advance, since this is often the only money you will get, because the majority of books don’t make out their advance. On the other hand,, some small publishers only start with a small advance or even no advance, and their books do well, plus they may have a good reputation in the field. So that could offset a low advance if the publisher is otherwise a good fit for your book. Generally, for a book from a new author, you can expect about $5000-20,000 from a larger publisher and about $1000-5000 from a smaller publisher, though in some cases, especially if this is an academic press, there will be no advance and limited sales. But the prestige of the house can make the sale worth it and open up doors for future books.

Consider, too, how enthusiastic the editor and marketing team is about your book. Ask about the publisher’s plans for distribution and promotion, as well as what the marketing and PR people expect you to do. Often publishers expect authors to pick up much of the promotional effort after their publicity department sends out about 50-200 review copies. So assess how much the publisher plan to do for your book in comparison to other interested publishers.

Also, review the contract you are offered. Many terms are fairly standard, such as a 10-15% royalty on hardcover retail sale or net receipts from paperback book sales, which start at 10% and go up with increased sales. A standard royalty on e-book sales is now 25%, though some publishers may offer up to 40%. Usually, publishers offer 50% of net receipts on the sale of other rights, such as serial rights, foreign sales, and video rights. These are details which you can work out once you decide on a particular publisher, and they are less important in making a decision on which publisher to choose.

However, one clause to be careful about – and which most publishers are willing to drop – is the first option on future books clause. While it is reasonable to have an option on books on the same or a related subject or have a non-compete clause about your publishing other books on this topic that might undermine sales, it is not reasonable to tie up any of your books in the future, especially if you write books on different topics. So the publisher should be willing to strike such an option; if not, that’s a warning about working with that publisher.

Another caution, as in dealing with agents, is that you should not be asked to pay the publisher to publish your book. While there may be an exception for some academic publishers, where academics are asked to help subsidize the publication of their book because of the “publish or perish” syndrome and the limited sales of most academic books for a specialized audience, trade publishers should not ask for any payment. Even if the publisher is asking for extensive rewrites, this should be something you do yourself or hire your own editor. But it is a conflict of interest if a publisher has its own pay to play editorial service. The publisher should make its money from publishing, not from editing manuscripts of the writers it publishes. And normally, publishers only take on books when the manuscripts are ready to go or require very little editing, apart from line or copy editing, which publishers normally do as a matter of course, with no charge to the writer.

In some cases, a traditional publisher may expect a writer to commit to buy a certain number of books. But unless you are likely to sell that number of books, say on the speaker circuit, cross that publisher off your list. Also avoid any publisher who has a substantial charge for publishing your book, even with a promise of a much higher than usual royalty rate (ie: 40% of net versus a more usual 10-15%), since that is often the sign of a vanity or author subsidized publisher, where the publisher has little distribution and its main income is coming from authors who are paying to publish their books. If that’s the only alternative, it’s better to self-publish than turn your book over to a vanity press.

If after weighing these various factors, you are still left with several contenders, focus on how enthusiastic the publisher is about your book and how you feel about working with that editor and publisher. For now, you are ready to let your intuition or gut level feelings help you decide.

And if you only have one interested publisher, the question is whether you want to work with that publisher or not. If not, you can always self-publish, seek to build sales and your platform, and then try to sell the book to a mainstream publisher. You can use the same title if the book does well, or if not, you can always change the title and pitch it again.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

How to Decide What Agent to work With

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

Say you have sent out queries to agents and now have to weigh offers from multiple agents or decide if you want one interested agent to represent you. Ultimately, your decision may come down to a matter of personal chemistry – who you would like to work with. But before you trust your intuition or gut to make the decision, find out what you can about any interested agents and weigh what that agent can do for you.

In some cases, writers living near an agent may get to meet personally, but normally a face-to-face meeting with an agent isn’t common or necessary. You can easily use the phone, fax, email, Skype, or mobile apps to communicate. And for most agents, it’s fine that you are considering multiple agents at the same time. They recognize that choosing an agent is a little like getting married or at least getting involved in an exclusive dating arrangement. Before then, the agent is assessing both your manuscript and what it will be like to work with you, just as you are assessing whether this is the right agent for you.

Normally, figure on a few days to make your assessment. In the event, you get a request from an agent for an exclusive period to look at your manuscript, such a request is rare and is usually from a smaller agent, who may not be your first choice anyway. So unless an agent asking for an exclusive really is your first choice, I would regard these requests this way. Just because the agent has asked for an exclusive, you don’t have to say “yes” to an offer of representation, and I typically regard this request for an exclusive as more like asking for a right of first refusal. You should not let such a request hold you up from following up with other agents at the same time.

Generally, there is no reason to tell other agents what other agents have expressed interest in your manuscript, just as you don’t need to tell a person on a first date about who else you are dating. The one exception is if the agents are from the same agency. Then, you need to tell both agents or if you have already sent your material to one agent, tell the agent who contacts you next that you have been in touch with this other agent. Additionally, explain that you didn’t know who to contact in that agency, and if that agent wishes he or she can talk to the first agent and they can decide between them who might like to represent you. Then, weigh that agent against any agents who have expressed interest in other agencies.

To help you determine what to do, keep a list of the agents who have expressed interest in our project, along with their agency name, website, and contact information.

Then, once you have determined what agents are interested, the next step is to do some research both by asking the agent some questions and by doing some research on the Internet. Be aware of the likely responses and what to expect.

First, there are typically standards that all agents adhere to – generally the agent’s commission is 15% for U.S. sales and 20-25% for foreign sales, since an agent will typically work through a foreign agent and share royalties, though some agents will handle foreign sales themselves. So don’t try to negotiate commission percentages.

Secondly, pay attention to any options clause or agreement for the agent to represent more than the one book or group of books, such as a trilogy, you are pitching together. In some cases, an agent will ask to represent you on all of your books now or in the future or both, until a representation agreement is terminated. I even had one agent who wanted a one year continuation of rights to a manuscript after the agreement was terminated. Ideally, start with the agent representing one manuscript and see how it goes, before committing everything to an agent. Generally, if there is any option, it’s best to limit this to a first option on future similar manuscripts, unless the agreement is terminated.

Whatever you agree about representation for one or multiple books, the agent will expect to get a commission on all future royalties on any sale to a publisher that agent contacted, even if the sale is made after the contract is terminated. In the event an agent wants to tie you into a longer relationship on future projects from the outset that can be a caution to stay away. But if the relationship works out, of course, you will want to have the agent represent you on even more projects. Ideally, though, seek to have the agent represent just one project to start, though if you have similar projects which would appeal to the same target audience, it’s fine to agree that the agent can represent them in the future, too, unless the agreement is terminated.

Third, just as an agent will want to know about your platform, you want to know about the agent’s track record. Normally an agent will be glad to tell you about successful sales to publishers. In fact, agents often have this information prominently displayed on their websites. While the sales price of different books may be confidential, you might ask about what the agent typically gets from a sale, so you have a ballpark figure of what to expect. The past track record of the agent – and how long the agent has been in business – are important qualities to consider.

Fourth, ask the agent what he or she expects to gain from your book and get a sense of how eager the agent is to represent you, since you want an agent who passionately believes in your book. Commonly, agents won’t take on a project for an author unless they believe in you and their ability to sell your book. But there are levels of passion and in the agent’s time and ability to represent you, along with other clients. So assess how committed the agent is to representing you.

Additionally, you might check out the agent on the Internet to see what others have said about that agent and if there any negative reports, such as on the website Preditors and Editors (www.pred-ed.com) . If so, any negative comments are a warning sign, though you might ask the agent about this, since the posting could be from a disgruntled writer whose book the agent wasn’t able to sell through no fault of his or her own.

Another caution is if the agent asks for any money from you or has a related business of editing manuscripts and asks you to pay for a review or for editing your manuscript. A small monetary contribution might be appropriate, should the agent have to pay for any long distance phone calls, copying or postage for sending out manuscripts, or messengering services to deliver a manuscript quickly. However, in today’s Internet age, most of these expenses no longer exist, since phone calls, except to another country, are normally free and manuscripts are commonly sent via PDF or Word documents. But if there are any small charges, often an agent will simply keep you informed and deduct them from the sale of the manuscript. In any agreement, you should be able to approve any charges over a certain amount – say $50, though most contracts now don’t require any author expenses.

In the event an agent does do editing or ghostwriting, this is fine if it’s a separate business. But an agent shouldn’t ask to edit or polish your manuscript as a requirement for representing you, since that’s a conflict of interest. Sometimes agents will at no charge give you extensive feedback about making changes in a manuscript, and then it’s up to you to make the changes. But the agent shouldn’t ask you to hire him or her as an editor, since any offer of representation should come with no strings attached – and typically agents will only want to represent a project that is ready to go – or involves very few final edits.

Finally, after you have assessed the agent based on these criteri, that’s when it’s time to listen to your intuition or gut in deciding whether you want to work with that agent. Or if there are multiple agents you might like to work with, consider how you feel about working with each of these agents, for ultimately your choice should come down a matter of personal chemistry and which agent you feel will do the best job for you based on your agent assessments.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

How To Decide What Publisher or Agent to Work With When Both are Interested

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

While many writers are ecstatic when they get one publisher or agent to express interest in publishing or representing their manuscript, in many cases, writers get multiple offers to publish or represent them. So what do you do then? How do you choose which publisher or agent to go with? Or even if you only have a single offer, should you go with that publisher or agent ? Or should you try another approach, such as sending an improved query letter or proposal, waiting 6 months to a year to develop a platform, or using self-publishing to build your platform?

The following guidelines will help you decide when you have interest from both agents and publishers. The next sections will describe what to do if you have interest from agents or publishers.

When you have interest from both agents and publishers, that’s a happy situation to be in. First, decide if you want to work with one of the agents, as discussed in the next section. This is a good choice, if you can work with a good agent, since the agent can contact additional publishers the agent works with, as well as follow-through with the publishers who have already expressed interest to you and help you get a better deal. An agent will also know about contracts, so he or she can advise you on what to expect and where you can negotiate and where you can’t. (For example, you can often get rid of a first option clause on your next book, keep the film and audio rights, or get a higher percentage if you initiate a contact that results in a sale. But you normally can’t do much to increase the advance or the royalty rate, though you might get a graduated increase to kick in sooner for sales above a certain level).

Your agent should be receptive to your initial query to publishers which has resulted in publisher interest. Most agents will be, since this positive response gives the agent a lead on interested publishers. You then need to refer any of these publishers to that agent, and let the agent know of any publishers who have turned down your query or your proposal or manuscript, if a publisher asked to see that. Later, should you get a further response from any publishers, you need to refer them to your agent. A good way to do this is by keeping a list or spreadsheet indicating how publishers have responded to whatever you have sent to them. The agent needs this information, since he or she doesn’t want to be embarrassed by initiating a contact with editors you have already contacted or in following through when a publisher has already said no.

Generally, under this arrangement, agents will get their normal 15% commission when they follow-up with your leads, although in some cases, I have worked with agents who have taken 10% or even 7 ½% for following-up, while getting 15% for their own contacts. However, this may not always be a good idea, since the agent’s incentive will be to pursue his or her own leads and might not follow up as enthusiastically with your leads. Plus, if you are a new writer, you have to be careful that this offer to pay the agent less for follow-up with your contacts could backfire and the agent could walk away. So tread lightly if you raise this possibility, and if the agent is reluctant, don’t pursue it. Generally this approach for the agent to talk less will work best with the smaller agents who are less established; while the larger, more established agents will be more apt to turn it down.

In some cases, this joint arrangement can work very well when you are working with a new but enthusiastic agent. Often such an agent may have had extensive experience in publishing by working as an editor for a publisher. But due to layoffs resulting from consolidations in the publishing field, the former editor may have become an agent, who is now building up a list of contacts. If you can approach publishers by sending out query letters, the agent may be very willing to follow-up, whereas a long-time agent may already have developed a list of contacts and be less receptive to do this. In any event, once you have an agent, ask how the agent would like to work with you in the future in contacting additional publishers and take your lead from the agent.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

The Pros & Cons of Working With a Small or Large Publisher

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

For many writers, a dream is to be published by the big six, which include Random House, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, The Penguin Group, and Hachette, though recently they have become the big five, since Random House and Penguin merged. They all have multiple imprints and typically pay much bigger advances than you can expect from a smaller publisher.

But is a big publisher the best approach for marketing your book? And will a big publisher actually want to publish your book, if you are not already famous or have a very large following in the social media?

Certainly, it can be great for bragging rights to have a big publisher release your book. But unless the publisher expects it to be a big book with a large promotion budget backing it – which is usually reserved for high profile authors, your book can easily get lost in the many books the big six publish. And as an author you may have to take on much of the promotional burden or expense yourself. Routinely publishers send out review copies, but that may be all they do, except for those books selected for the big book treatment. And even if you do get publicity, that still might not turn your book into a best seller – or result in any better success than with a small publisher.

For example, about ten years ago, Random House published one of my books – Do You Look Like Your Dog? featuring photos of owners who looked like their dogs — through its Broadway imprint as a novelty illustrated book with black and white photos. The publisher’s publicist even got some TV exposure, including two segments on Good Morning America. But even that exposure didn’t save the book from limited sales of about 4000 copies, since it was published as a quick impulse book which anyone could flip through in a few minutes and didn’t have to buy. Thus, even with the biggest of the big publishers behind it, that doesn’t guarantee big sales for a book.

On the other hand, some books can thrive with small and medium sized independent publishers, especially if it’s a niche book with a focused market, such as a self-help book, an inspirational or religious book, or a business book. And often a big publisher will not publish such books from new authors or authors with limited sales in the past, since these publishers only want books with high-profile celebrities and experts.

As for advances, if you do find a big publisher interested in your book, the advances are likely to be higher, since a big publisher has a larger budget. But don’t expect the huge advances paid to the high-profile celebrity authors which can be six or seven figures. Instead, a typical advance for most new or “mid-list” writers is about $5000-20,000, while a smaller publisher will offer less – commonly around $1000-5000. But the royalty rates are commonly around the same for a paperback book (generally 10-15% of net, with the percentage going up with more sales) and about 25-40% for an e-book, though 25% seems to be the common standard. Thus, while the advances may be smaller, if the book does well, you can earn as much being published by a small publisher.

One possible advantage of a smaller or medium sized publisher is that your book may get more attention, simply because the publisher is introducing a smaller number of new books and so is more committed to supporting the sales of each one. Then, too, if yours is a niche book, a publisher with a targeted audience may be well suited to distribute to that market.

Finally, a big consideration is who wants to publish your book. Often, you won’t be able to find a big publisher, if you don’t already have a high-profile platform, a large following, or a history of big sales for previous books. But an independent publisher may be more receptive to publishing your book.

Thus, a good strategy in pitching a book, unless it is a book with limited sales to a limited audience, is to pitch it to both big and smaller independent publishers. Then, first see if a big publisher is interested and what kind of deal they are offering, and if so, weigh your options with any offer from a smaller independent publisher. In either case, the publisher will look to you to do much of the publicity and promotion. Or if a big publisher isn’t interested, you can still work with a small publisher – and though they may be smaller and the advance may be smaller, you can still do quite well – and with some strategic marketing and promotion, you can even sell more books than you would with one of many new books that is introduced by a big publisher but gets lost because the publisher is so big and releasing so many books.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

How To turn Your Personal Experiences Into Something You can get Published

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

Your personal experiences can provide a wealth of source material for something you can publish, whether as an article or blog, book proposal, chapter, or complete book based on collecting enough experiences together. This approach to writing can be particularly helpful when things go wrong and you have a bad experience, particularly when you feel angry at someone you feel did you wrong. This method of turning a bad experience into something you can write about and publish cannot only be a way to release your feelings of anger or betrayal, so you feel better, but it can contribute to your career as a writer. You use your experience to gain more awareness or promotion for yourself, or to get paid for what you have written, as well.

I used this approach myself after I did some editing work for a publisher who didn’t give me early feedback but asked me to continue writing, and then stopped the job midway and refused to pay me, because the job he stopped wasn’t completed. Though I felt like writing the publisher a letter telling him off, instead I did some research on this publisher, discovered a long history of bad behavior, including suing a few individuals and companies for expressing an opinion about the poor quality of the company’s books. And the information I gleaned was enough for several articles which I published, opening the door to a future book on the key themes in these articles.

A good way to start the process is by writing down your initial observations and reactions to the experience, which can also serve to release any feelings of anger and betrayal you have. You can even write up your bad experience as a letter to the person or company which has offended you. Then don’t send the letter – a technique which psychologists and therapists sometimes recommend to clients to help them release their negative emotions. But beyond writing anything to feel better, think about how you can use this material for an article, blog, book proposal, book, film script, or other popular format that can lead to more promotion for your portfolio as well as money for your work. In fact, publishers often like these inspired by a true story projects, since it provides a promotional hook to help in selling the book or promoting the film.

More specifically, here are some things you can do to contribute to your writing career after you have a bad personal experience.

– Realize that if you were badly treated, many other individuals might have been, too. To find out, do an Internet search by the name of the company or its main officers. You may find a wealth of information about anything the company has done to behave badly. And this research could be the beginning of an investigative piece as well as your triggering an investigation by law enforcement against the company. Then, whatever you write about the company and what happened to you will have even more popular appeal.

– Turn whatever happened to you into an article or blog, though don’t use any names, so you don’t get into legal trouble. And if there’s enough to the story, you can turn this material into a proposal for a book you can pitch to agents or traditional publishers. Or you might write and publish the book yourself; then if you gain interest in the story and yourself, you can turn this book into a better deal with a traditional book publisher.

– Think about how you can build on what happened to turn your story into a novel or script, which you can then sell to a publisher or film producer, or publish yourself. For example, that’s what I did after I worked with a psychiatrist client. He was very difficult to deal with; had a strong sense of what should be in his script even though many scenes and much of his proposed dialogue seemed overly exaggerated and stilted. But he was the client, and though he paid me, he treated me like a secretary he could yell at and insult. So eventually, I wrote whatever he wanted without making any suggestions, like I was merely his typist. But afterwards, I turned this experience into a story about a psychiatrist leading a double life in participating in an underground criminal enterprise – and now this script is under consideration by several producers.

Thus, when bad experiences happen, look on them as the source of ideas you can develop in various directions – and ultimately use to expand your platform or gain money for yourself. By doing so, not only will you release any angry feelings, but you can gain in multiple ways from something you turn around to further your writing career.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

HOW TO GET PAID WORK WHEN PUBLISHERS OR OTHER COMPANIES TRY NOT TO PAY YOU

by Gus | Oct 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

Sometimes a big problem for writers is getting paid. Commonly, when writers do work for individual clients, they work on retainers or pay as you go arrangements using PayPal or credit cards. But when you get hired by a company, a usual arrangement is for the company to pay you after the work is completed or in various stages, such as 10-25% up front, and more as you go along or after you finish the project.

Unfortunately, this arrangement of pay after completing some or all of the work can be a problem, if a company decides not to pay for some reason, which may not be justified – say because the company decides to change its direction and no longer wants to use the work, although it asked the writer to do this.

I started thinking about the problem of not getting paid by a company for work done at their direction, when this happened to me. As I experienced myself, often, when a company doesn’t pay, you may feel powerless because you are an individual up against a company, like a David facing a Goliath. In some cases, the situation can feel even more hopeless when the amount is too small to merit hiring a lawyer or pursuing a small claims case. And sometimes you can feel even worse, because the company avoids telling you what’s wrong or makes an excuse you consider unfair and unjust.

For example, I encountered this situation when a small scholarly publisher hired me to edit a very badly written academic book. Like much bad academic writing, it was overly wordy, used long convoluted sentences, and included multiple cites from other researchers in densely packed paragraphs, who repeated the same ideas in different words. After I advised the publisher of my hourly rate and got a budget cap for the project, I began editing the first 15 pages in about 40 minutes and got two more go ahead for the next two hours that I worked on the manuscript. In doing the edit, I sought to streamline the very dense, pedantic, repetitious writing, rather than just correcting the obvious typos and grammatical errors. But then the project went South. Suddenly, the editor who worked for the publisher called to tell me not write anymore and to send him a bill for the hours I already worked. But he didn’t explain what was wrong, only that the company planned to do the rest of the editing in house. After that the publisher was impossible to reach, didn’t return my calls, and sent a letter cancelling an offer to publish one of my books, with a notation to the editor to pay my bill. But soon afterwards, the editor sent me an email stating that the publisher decided not to pay because the project wasn’t completed. However, it wasn’t because the editor asked me to stop doing anything more, after previously asking me to continue writing.

Though the amount of my bill wasn’t much – only about $400, I felt the publisher’s sudden decision to not to pay me without telling me what was wrong or being willing to discuss the matter was unjust and unfair. And later I discovered this company was involved in numerous lawsuits, along with claims they were a vanity publisher disguised as a scholarly press.

But initially, due to the company’s refusal to pay, I felt powerless against a company in another state. However, then I started thinking about what I could do and how many other writers might be in a similar situation after putting in hours, days, or more on a project, only to not be paid for no good reason. For example, one writer friend described working 40 hours a week for 3 months with repeated assurances of being paid at the end of the project. But the promised check for about $20,000 didn’t come, and the company officials were elusive when she tried to contact them. Another writer hired as an advertising and PR consultant was at first paid an initial retainer and agreed to bill the company after that. But after the company hired him for several more hours, it didn’t pay, claiming that his advice didn’t help their sales, though he gave no guarantees.

In such cases, going to small claims court – or the threat of filing – can sometimes get a company to pay to avoid the time and expense of going to court. However, if a company is in another state, it may be difficult to pursue a long-distance small claims case. And even if the company is local, a lawsuit can be a long, tedious process and not worth the effort if the unpaid amount is low.

But there are a number of alternatives, when a publisher or other company isn’t willing to resolve the dispute. Ideally, these alternatives can lead to your getting paid. But even if they don’t, these strategies can enable you to share your experience, so you can warn others about possible problems in dealing with that company. Then, too, you may feel better about what happened when you inform others by writing emails, blogging, or talking, and you may feel some satisfaction from getting justice as the company’s bad behavior becomes known. Sometimes, too, once a company discovers that people are writing and talking about what it did wrong, it can be sufficiently shamed and embarrassed by the publicity, so it decides to do the right thing and pay you what you are owed.

Aside from going to court as a last resort, if it is a viable alternative, here are some things you can do.
1) Report your bad experiences on one of the websites which feature complaints for writers, such as Preditors and Editors http://pred-ed.com. Some writers’ organizations also have a complaint section for members, such as the American Society of Authors and Journalists (ASJA) www.asja.org.
2) If you have followers on the social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can share your complaints about publishers and other companies there, and others may pass on this information. And normally, you don’t have to worry about a company taking any legal action against you, since the company’s desire to end any bad publicity by paying what they owe is likely to outweigh taking action against someone with a valid complaint, which might result in more bad publicity. Plus if you don’t have much money, which is true for many writers, a lawyer isn’t likely to take the case.
3) Tell the publisher or other company that you are seriously considering legal action, and show you are serious by describing how you have researched the court procedures and penalties the company may experience. You might also point out that once a court case is filed, it becomes a public record, which the company might want to avoid, since it will further sully their reputation.
4) If enough people who haven’t been paid by a company learn about one another through your efforts to share information about your experience, this might lead to a virtual protest through the social media or even a real protest in front of company headquarters.

In short, you have many options to get paid or at least get justice and warn others about dealing with this company.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions. Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY

Turning Your Book into a Series of Blogs

by Gus | Oct 21, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tips - Books

Just as you can turn a series of a blogs into a book, you can turn a book into a series of blogs. The key to doing so successfully is dividing the sections of your book to publish as blogs into 700 to 1000 word chunks, since this is the sweet spot for blogging, according to Google’s latest algorithms. Since the required length changes from time to time, do some research on the Internet to check what this word length should be. For example, put in “google algorithm blog length 2014” or whatever year this is in the Google search engine.

An advantage to creating blogs from parts of your book is the blog can get people interested in reading more, so you can sell some books in paperback or in an ebook format from your site or through a link to Amazon. While Amazon has an associate arrangement to pay back 5% of the book’s sales price, it may not be worth the hassle to set up this system, since you will already be getting much larger royalty payments for the sale of each book.

Another advantage of these blogs is that they can help to raise the search engine rankings of your site, so you are likely to get increased traffic. The optimal way of using blogs to generate traffic is to post them once a week or every two weeks. The delay in posting future blogs can contribute to your book sales, too, since most people won’t want to wait to buy the book if they want to read more after reading your blog. As an example, that’s what I did with The Complete Guide to Writing, Producing, and Directing a Low-Budget Short Film. After I wrote the book, I created a blog on my website www.changemakersproductions.com/blog to feature excerpts from the book, and in the future, I plan another series of articles about promoting films that will be turned into a book.

Thus, you can readily go both ways at the same time – turn some books into blogs, as well as turn some blogs into books.

A good way to get started is to map out how to divide up your book and decide which sections to turn into blogs and in what order. Don’t think you have to turn everything into a blog. Say your book is about 60,000 words. Figuring on an average of 850 words per blog, that’s about 70 blogs, and if you post one a week, that’s plenty for over a year. However, you probably don’t want to turn everything in the book into a blog, especially the more detailed sections, which build on previous information in your book. Instead, focus on the sections of your book which can stand alone, such as the overview in your introduction, a summary at the end of each chapter, take-aways, and your concluding chapter. Ideally, go in order through your book to reflect the logical way someone would read your book.

In some cases, you can easily copy and paste the material from your manuscript into a file for each blog, and then copy and paste that selection into your blog template and add a title. But in other cases, you may need to write a few lines of introduction to lead into the copy in the blog, along with adding a title.

However you create your blog, at the end, add in about 50 words of copy about yourself, and before or after your bio, briefly mention where people can buy the book and provide a link to that ordering information on your on website, on Amazon, or through another bookseller. You want to make it as easy as possible for someone who has enjoyed reading your blog and wants to learn more by buying your book.

Another way to use these blogs is to send a query to the editors of newspapers, magazines, and Internet publications inviting them to republish your blog, with a link back to your website, along with your bio. In this case, call your blog an article. It’s the same content, but a blog is usually associated with a particular website or blogging platform, whereas an article stands alone. At one time, some writers used to syndicate their articles and actually got paid a small amount (ie: $10-25) for each republication of their material, much like a Dear Abby or Miss Manners column appears in many papers and on the Internet today. But now, unless you are already a household name, there are so many writers writing free articles, that any payment is unlikely. Or even if you do sign an agreement, you may not get paid, and it is impossible to try to collect a very small amount unless the publisher voluntarily pays you.

So generally, forget about getting paid for these articles. Instead, use them to increase your visibility by your article appearing on multiple websites. You can also get links in the article back to your website or to a place where people can buy your book. It is fine to pitch these articles for multiple postings around the Internet after your blog has been up for a few days, since Google and other search engines will have already logged the initial posting of original material, which will up your website ranking. After a week, you will be ready to post your next blog to repeat the process.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D., is a nationally known writer, consultant, speaker, and seminar/workshop leader, who has published over 50 books on diverse subjects, including business and work relationships, professional and personal development, and social trends. She also writes books, proposals, scripts, articles, blogs, website copy, press releases, and marketing materials for clients as the founder and director of Changemakers Publishing and Writing and as a writer and consultant for The Publishing Connection (www.thepublishingconnection.com). She has been a featured expert guest on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including Good Morning America, Oprah, and CNN, talking about the topics in her books.