your personal publishing plan
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A strategic roadmap
If you’re new to it, navigating the publishing landscape can be daunting. So many options, so many choices. You can sort out a direction for yourself, over time, or you can hire someone to help you get started on your journey.
Based in market and industry research, in-depth interviews with you, and my own background, I develop a strategic roadmap for your publishing journey. That roadmap is anchored in you and who you are, your book and what it aims to accomplish, and your target audience and who they are.
The highlights of that roadmap —
An orientation to the publishing process, overall, as might be helpful
A summary, if appropriate, of which publishing route might best suit the work and your goals, budget, and preferences, as well as remarks on the other routes
A summary/discussion of the key strategic decisions to be made
If you’ve an interest in the traditional route, possible agents to approach (for moderately large presses), possible small presses (which often accept unagented mss)
If you’ll look into hybrid, a few suggestions for which presses to approach
If you’ll consider author-publishing, a list of some useful resources and also cautions on some pitfalls to be avoided
A deeper dive into your comps, along with additional candidates, with insights into what that means for you in positioning, marketing, and selling your work
An evaluation (not an edit) of your writing from the samples you’ll have sent, and recommendations for next steps with respect to the work itself
Possible remarks on design, based on your genre and niche — but you’ll want a book designer to eventually handle the cover design (even better, the interior layout as well)
Some strategies to help you raise your author profile ahead of publication
Detailed strategies for helping to raise visibility for the book and generate buzz in the marketplace, information that’s useful even with a traditional contract, as in today’s environment many houses and presses require the author to become far more involved in the marketing/publicity process than was once the case
Notes on the cost, or range of cost, of various services where that information is available — but the cost of many services varies widely, so these notes will not constitute a budget
This is not magic. Much of what I’ll be doing you could do yourself, with enough time and research. It’s a question of how much you want to do yourself, given all there is to do, and where you’d like support. I also, of course, bring my own expertise to the table. Just as anyone you hire would.
Rate: $850
Next opening: September/October 2023
notes
My focus is on the trade markets, not academic/scholarly or educational (textbook) publishing. And within trade, adult fiction and nonfiction. Not, for the moment, juvenile, middle grade, or young adult.
My orientation is to the US publishing environment and markets.
A roadmap such as this represents the start of the journey. You would then need to do the work: revamping the various teasers and summaries as might be needed, writing the queries or proposal, pursuing the agents and acquisitions editors, working with an editor, reaching out to meet your various marketing and publicity goals, and so on.
Keep in mind that no one can guarantee sales. All I can do is present savvy approaches for reaching the readers for whom the book, done well, is most likely to resonate.
This package is best suited to those new to publishing.
A note of caution: Be wary of services selling you on how easy it is to publish, how easy it is to sell books. In general, it’s not. For the latest on scams perpetrated on unsuspecting writers, see Writer Beware.
Publishing a book can be enormously satisfying, but doing it right generally takes quite a lot of work.
To go this route, ping me through the contact form. I’ll send you the payment info (I use Zelle). Once that’s all in place, I’ll send you the exploratory survey based on the kind of book you’re working on: informational nonfiction, fiction, or memoir. Take your time with it: in this case, more is better. A week or two after you’ve submitted the form, we’ll schedule a video call to talk further. Following that, I may occasionally have questions to raise in email. Four to five weeks after the call, I’ll have your plan. We’ll then have another call to go over it.
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Genres at a glance
Expository and narrative nonfiction
/ big ideas and explainers, creative reflection and memoir, personal essay, cultural commentary, travel. Short and long form.
Flash and short fiction
/ mystery, suspense, thriller; history and alt history; time travel; mainstream lit, up lit, women’s fiction, literary fiction.
“Writing is an art. Publishing is a business.”