Inside Simon & Schuster: A Publishing
Story and its related articles,
Submitting the
Manuscript,
Acquiring the Manuscript,
Editing the Manuscript, and
Marketing and
Sales, were published in their original form in Writer's Digest in 1998 and later reprinted in the
1998 Writer's Yearbook Extra. I revised and significantly expanded the story for online publication.
Marketing Is a Huge Area
Publicity, promotion and advertising are part of marketing, of course, but so are:
- front and back covers
- flap copy, title and subtitle
- endorsements
- early reviews, or reviews of previous books
- mention of awards won.
All of these are used to generate interest in and help sell the book.
In sales, generally, there are two kinds of bookstores: independent and chain-owned, and two ways for stores to order books: from the publisher or a distributor. The large chains and many of the independents order directly from the publisher, and sell retail. The distributors also order from the publisher but they fill orders from bookstores and other accounts that may be too small to do business with the publisher or that need to get books immediately.
If SHATTERED Were a Novel
A key difference between fiction and nonfiction is that it's much easier to get publicity for a nonfiction book because there's the subject to discuss, while a novelist is limited to talking about the plot, which in summary form is
often boring. For a novel, then, the emphasis would be on reviews and advertising.
How You Can Contribute
There's a lot you can do here.
- Make suggestions about the cover concept
- Provide sample art, photos, illustrations or effective book jackets that could be
imitated
- Ask to see the flap copy and suggest improvements to your editor
- Get endorsements yourself
- Provide your editor with names, addresses, and perhaps a letter to the endorsers from you, to accompany the editor's
request
- Suggest review and publicity opportunities, publications where ads might appear, and special marketing hooks or highlights from your
book
- Provide a list of organizations that might accept your book in nomination for their
awards
Make yourself available for any publicity your publisher wants to do. They can't afford to publicize every book, so if they want to spend money on yours, take advantage of the opportunity.
If there are local or specialty bookstores and conventions where you can make appearances and do signings, let your publicist know.
And if you can't find your book somewhere, don't assume that the publisher has bungled again. Publishers can only keep books available for ordering; they can't force stores to order them. If a bookstore doesn't carry your book, perhaps the publisher is out of stock but more likely, the store didn't order or reorder the book.
Just in case though, let your editor know exactly which stores don't have your book, and she can check whether the store did or didn't order the book, confirm there's still stock in the warehouse, and follow up with Sales if there isn't.
| Review All the Publishing Hints or the Writing
Secrets |
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