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En-TITLE-ment: Finding the Perfect Title (Part Two)

August 24, 2011 in Business, Karen, Marketing, Publishing with 9 Comments

by Karen Ball

First, here are the answers to last week’s questions:

Name That Tone!

The Boneman’s Daughters–chilling

Redeeming Love–romantic

The Shunning–Amish

The Riddlemaster of Hed–fantastical

A Vase of Mistaken Identity–whimsical

Without a Trace–suspensful

Three Weddings & a Giggle—humourous and romantic

Name that Genre!

Kidnapped–adventure

Sister Chicks Down Under—witty women’s fiction

The Lightkeeper’s Ball—historical romance

Deadly Pursuit—suspense

The Twelfth Prophecy, A.D. Chronicles—biblical fiction

Okay, now, on to Tip #3 for crafting strong titles. As USA channel puts it, Characters welcome! Ever and always, Keep Your Characters in Mind. Sometimes the best title for a book focuses on the character. But not just on the name, though that can work well. You can also base a title on your character’s:

  • Personality
  • Personal struggle
  • Conflict with other characters
  • Lesson learned
  • Nickname
  • Nationality
  • Flaw
  • Physical characteristics
  • Occupation or calling

…and so on. Look at all the facets of your character to see if there’s something that would lend itself well to an eye- and imagination-grabbing title. Also, remember that these kinds of titles can often lead to wonderful designs.

Also, remember that your location can be considered a character as well. Certain regions, states, or countries tend to have personalities, so to speak. Build on that for a title that creates the image of your story before the reader has even hit page one.

Some examples of character-based titles:

Name

Magdalene (interesting that they chose Magdalene rather than Mary Magdalene. Used the far more negative/emotional portion of the name for the title)

Rachel’s Secret

Here Lies Arthur

Ruby’s Slippers (outstanding cover art enhances the name and tongue-in-cheek connection to Wizard of Oz. See below!)

Physical Characteristic

The Eye of Jade (cover design played off this title beautifully. See below.)

The Face

The Bluest Eye

Character’s struggle or “state”

A Bride in the Bargain

Daughter of Liberty

Deceived

Snow Angel

Personality

The Duchess & the Dragon (gives you a strong sense of the heroine and hero, right up front)

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes (this title uses location as well)

That Certain Spark (the cover art is what makes this title so effective! See cover below.)

Location as a character

The Shack

What the Bayou Saw

Savannah from Savannah (wonderful mix of name and location)

Texas Angel

Occupation/Calling

Guardian of the Flame

The Alchemist

The Night Watchman

     

Any others you can think of to illustrate this tip?

 

 

 

 

 

Back to School?

August 15, 2011 in Business, Steve, Writing with 7 Comments

by Steve Laube

Depending on where you live and your school district policies you may already be in a back-to-school mode or preparing for it.

It got me to thinking about the need for all writers to always have a “back to school” mentality.

Here are six things we can learn from always going “back to school.”

  1. Anticipation. The joyful feeling that something great is going to happen.
  2. Dread. The accompanying feeling that something awful is going to happen.
  3. Fun. Put the first two together and you have an adventure.
  4. Learn. The desire to learn something new. Terry Whalin reads a new book on the craft of writing or the publishing business each month. That is an example for all writers.
  5. Growth. Growth happens over time and through much work and perseverance. Ronie Kendig spent eight years from the time she first began pursuing publication to the date her first novel was released. That is perseverance.
  6. Reward. There is never a “graduation” ceremony from the school of writing. It is a lifetime experience. But the rewards are great because words can change lives.

This Fall and next Spring I would encourage you to attend a writers conference. It can be like going back to school…but in a fun way (see #3).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Questions About Agents

July 14, 2011 in Agency, Business, Publishing, Tamela with 17 Comments

by Tamela Hancock Murray

In meeting with writers on the cusp of their careers or flush with new success, we find that three big questions come to the forefront. Today, Tamela shares her answers:

How do I find a literary agent?

1)      First and foremost, visit the Agency web sites to see which ones are actively seeking the type of work you write.

2)      Talk to your agented friends to learn about their agents. Referrals are a big part of our business.

3)      If time and finances allow, attend a conference or meeting where your preferred agent will be appearing and meet the agent.

4)      Make sure to abide by the Agency guidelines when submitting your proposal. Attention to details can distinguish your submission from less professional offerings.

5)      If you don’t hear from the agent after a couple months, follow up with a respectful email.

 

When do I need an agent?

1)      You have completed a manuscript and it is, without a doubt, ready to be submitted to agents.

2)      In non-fiction, you have established an outstanding platform of significance. For example an ongoing speaking ministry, a strong Internet following, and a demonstrable fan base – that will help convince an agent (and later, a publisher) your book will sell.

3)      In fiction, your book is written to the current market. Contest awards of national significance demonstrate that industry professionals recognize your talent.

4)      Through conferences and/or contests, editors have asked to see more of your work; this is a plus, though not essential.

5)      You have been offered a book contract. (Just don’t accept the offer until you talk to an agent.)

 

Once I start working with an agent, how do I enhance the relationship?

1)      Don’t be afraid of your agent. If you are, you will never have the ideal working relationship. When you need your agent, make contact. No exceptions. (We really don’t bite. At least not very often.)

2)      Know yourself. If you want to trust an agent with secrets and be a personal friend, choose someone with the accompanying personality. If you are an “all business” type, choose accordingly.

3)      If you feel your agent is ignoring you, let that feeling be known. When you do, the relationship will become stronger. As in any relationship, communication is a key.

4)      Publishing is small industry. Never burn a bridge. The associate copy editor you scream at today will be the vice president of acquisitions tomorrow.

5)      Always abide by the Lord’s guidelines known as The Golden Rule (Luke 6:31).

 

 

 

 

 

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread?

July 11, 2011 in Business, E-Books, Guest Post, Publishing, Trends with 4 Comments

Guest Post by Teddi Deppner

We are really pleased to have Teddi Deppner be our guest today. I first met Teddi at the Mt. Hermon Writers Conference while she sat through my Major Morning Track, listening patiently to 8 1/2 hours of lecture over four days. She has recently been asking some penetrating questions about technology and the publishing industry so I invited her to create a post and express those thoughts for your discussion.

Teddi Deppner has published hundreds of websites over the last 15+ years in her work as a professional web designer, marketer and consultant. Recently, she has launched on a quest to map out simple, effective strategies to share with creative people using the Internet and social media for their business. Find her latest projects at www.TeddiDeppner.com.

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Thanks to Steve for the opportunity to share some thoughts with his audience. This post, intended primarily to open a lively discussion, was sparked by an article by Craig Mod about “Post-Artifact Book Publishing”.

Craig’s essay presents the idea that books have traditionally been artifacts: the concrete, physical products of an author. He diagrams the process and participants in the creation, publishing and distribution of this artifact and how things are changing now that books have become more than static artifacts.

The part that fascinates me is his observation that the digital age of publishing isn’t really about taking “the book” (a frozen collection of specific words and images) and simply copying it into some readable digital format. Instead, we now face the opportunity to take our idea and shape it into an unlimited number of formats: printed book, web page or online community, e-books of varying flavors, interactive and/or animated digital presentation, video, and yes – much, much more.

So many choices these days! Are you tempted to ignore them until the dust settles? Don’t think those choices apply to your “book”?

Think again.

What’s a Book, Anyway?

Craig Mod’s article is worth reading in detail, and every time I read it the implications multiply. A provocative and key concept I keep returning to:

To think about the future of the book is to think about the future of all content.

Books weren’t static because that’s the best way for a person to express an idea to the world but because it was the only way we had available to record an idea and spread it beyond our immediate circle of friends.

The printing press transformed the world in very short order. I believe we’re living at the dawn of a similar transformation. The Internet may not be the best thing since sliced bread, but I would argue it’s the best thing since the printing press!

Today we have available a new means of spreading ideas — and it doesn’t require a static, physical form. The Internet is with us everywhere, as Netbooks, iPads, mobile phones and e-readers like the Kindle are in more and more hands. Five years ago did you imagine you’d be checking your email while waiting at the gas pump? Did you have any idea you would take 20 books on vacation with you and use up less room in your bag than for a single paperback novel?

A New Set of Questions

As an author, as a business person, as an artist, I’m asking myself some new questions:

    • What is the heart of my idea?
    • Is it best expressed in a static form, or is it rather at its heart a conversation that should begin somewhere and then dynamically grow and evolve?
    • Who is looking for an idea just like this one and how do I reach them?

I’m exploring new “best ways” to convey a story:

    • What length works best? Does my audience want serial episodes or large chunks of completed story arcs at a time?
    • How many illustrations should I include and what should they look like? Pure text novel or completely graphic novel?
    • Should I attach music or record an audio version?
    • Should I offer multiple versions of this story, rated for content along the same lines as movies?

These things are fun to think about, but the most urgent missing piece for me as a creative person making a living producing this content is the business model.

    • How do I turn what’s in my head into cash in my pocket?
    • What is the payment model? What is the distribution model?
    • Who do I need to partner with to make it happen?
    • How many different successful partnerships can I create with collaborators? (writer + filmmaker, writer + artist, writer + writer, and stick some editors in there all over the place because we need QUALITY, people!)

Making Sandwiches That Sell

Okay, so we’ve got all this sliced bread. Now what do we do with it?

Many authors are offering free content as bait to gather their target audience into position and sell them paid content. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Will this model last? Is it sustainable?

And who decides what content is worth paying for? Where do the curators (see Steve’s post on curation) fit in? I can imagine a day when I pay a publisher not for printing a book but instead for a list of vetted, quality content providers directly matched to my preferences.

Although even the average “Joe Reader” is aware that things are changing, he’s ignorant of the full implications. He just goes along, doing what he’s always done, right? His assumptions and prejudice and habits based on a lifetime of traditional consumption of books and movies and music are still mostly intact.

Or are they?

As big entertainment companies change how other forms of content are delivered and paid for (music, TV episodes and movies), what is already changing in the minds of our target consumer? How have your content buying habits changed in the past five years?

What Do You Think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! At the risk of mixing the metaphor, let’s say this post itself is a slice of freshly baked bread. Help me butter it. Throw on some jam. Go ahead and toast it, if that’s your thing.

Post a comment sharing how you read your books, check your news, get new ideas. Tell me what you’re willing to pay for and what you’d rather enjoy for free. I’d especially like your ideas on the most exciting content you’ve purchased recently and what kinds you wish were available but can’t find anywhere.

 

 

Build it Before They Come

June 30, 2011 in Business, Marketing, Tamela with 15 Comments

by Tamela Hancock Murray

If you want to be a published writer, realize that someone will look for you on the web. Agents will Google your name. I guarantee that editors and marketing folks will visit your web site to find out more about you.

Thus your web site needs to be both professional and effective. It is a bit like putting on your “Sunday Best” before going to an interview. That first impression is critical.

Allow me to share unscientific, subjective thoughts regarding a few elements I especially enjoy as an agent learning about writers through their web sites:

1)    A home page sharing a good photograph of the author, a brief bio, and a sense of what type of books the author writes. Bold colors and dramatic images are great for edgy, suspenseful, mysterious, and speculative stories. Gentle color schemes and images of beauty take a visitor into soft stories. Writers of Amish fiction using those images on their home pages provide immediate brand and identity.

2)    A page about the writer’s books. Show visitors your book covers. Give a blurb about each plot. Mention awards. Include a link to an Internet retailer so the visitor can buy your books on the spot. This is also a great place to include a link to your publisher’s site. Show that you are in great company with other wonderful authors and what great taste your publisher has demonstrated in choosing your books.

3)    Your third page is tricky because it’s personal. To stay professional, be judicious in sharing. Anyone can stop by your web site. Someone once told me he could look at one picture on a site and locate a person’s house. Thankfully this wasn’t an ominous person! But in only a few clicks through social networking and mapping sites, anyone can piece together a profile of you and your family. An experienced webmaster can help decide how much family information to share.

4)    Another page might include hobbies if they reflect your work. For instance, if you write Westerns and have traveled to the West for research, share pictures. If your stories include sewing, perhaps offer sewing tips. Keep unrelated information off the site. For example, your author web site is not the place to advertise a second business. Save that for a different site. Here, focus on your books.

5)    Bloggers need to make it easy for visitors to find their blogs. Adding a link to an email address set up for your site only is a good idea. Agented authors, please also include a prominent place for your agent’s name and a link to the agent’s and/or agency’s site. Your agent will thank you!

My personal author web site was recently redesigned (email me if you would like their information). Our agency’s web site was put together by AuthorMedia.com. Karen Ball’s personal site was designed by Pulse Point Design. Check them out!

 

 

 

 

 

Many Happy(?) Returns!

June 27, 2011 in Business, Contracts, Publishing, Steve with 11 Comments

by Steve Laube

Every first-time author is confronted by the reality of “Reserves Against Returns” as part of publishing economics. It is usually a shock and elicits a phone call to their agent crying “What happened to my money?”

Did you realize that book publishing is the only “hard goods” industry where the product sold by the supplier to a vendor can be returned? This does not happen with electronics, clothing, shoes, handbags, cars, tires…you name it. If it is a durable good the vendor who buys it, owns it (which is why there are Outlet Malls – to sell the remaining inventory). Except for books. Somewhere along the line the publishers agreed to allow stores to return unsold inventory for credit. In one sense, publishers are selling their books on consignment. Bargain books are actually resold by the publisher (after getting returns or to reduce overprinted inventory) to a new specialty bargain bookseller or division of a chain (which buys the bargain books non-returnable).

Consequently book contracts have a clause allowing the publisher to establish “a reasonable reserve against returns.” By “reserve” they mean a pool of money withheld from the author…holding that money in “reserve.” The intention of the clause is to protect the publisher against paying the author for books that have been shipped and billed to a store but may eventually be returned to the publisher.

Imagine if Walmart purchased 10,000 copies of your book. Everyone celebrates. If you are earning $1.00 in royalty (on average) for every book sold, that means you will receive $10,000 from your publisher at some point. Hooray! Steak dinners for every one!

But wait.

What if Walmart doesn’t sell all the copies they purchased and returned 5,000 of them?

And what if your publisher had already paid you for all 10,000 sold copies? That means your publisher overpaid you by $5,000. Do you have to give that money back? You really don’t want their collections agent (his name is Guido) to come to your door to get their money back.

Thus the publisher will make an estimate on every royalty statement and withhold a “reasonable reserve against returns.” It seems that some publishers abuse the word “reasonable.” One author I know had 70% of their revenue withheld for a complete royalty cycle because their publisher had made a big sale to a big box chain. But is that really abuse?

The Big Box retailers are notorious for returning over half of what they purchase.

I don’t begrudge a publisher for holding a reserve. I’d rather they not demand the money back later!

There was situation, many years ago, where an author’s book sold 8,000 copies to a single big-box retailer as part of the initial launch. Six months later, the author developed a new proposal and the editor was going to present it to the committee because the author had already sold 12,000 units (including the 8k to the big-box retailer). The day before the committee meeting the big-box retailer returned the books. All of them. All 8,000. The warehouse said it looked like the cases were untouched, in other words they never made it into the stores. Thus the author’s total sales went from 12k to 4k in one day. The editor walked into that committee meeting and was ambushed by the sales manager with this news. The publisher declined to contract a new deal. Author had to switch publishers.

The author was crushed, the publisher stunned, and everyone lost. So before we get all huffy with publishers and their accounting practices we have to realize that history tends to dictate accounting policy.

However, there is a practice regarding reserve against returns that is quite frustrating. There are some publishers that roll the reserve over every cycle….forever. No matter how old the book, if it is still in print, they hold back a reserve. And the new reserve they choose is suspiciously consistent to the amount the book had sold in the previous royalty accounting period. In other words the author never seems to get a respite because the reserve keeps rolling forward. This is just plain nasty.

If a publisher is savvy (and most are) they put that “reserve” in an interest bearing account. And they can sit on that float for six months earning interest on what is technically the author’s money. And if the returns do not use up the reserve the difference is credited back to the author. Let’s use the above example:

Books sells $10,000 worth of earnings in July-December.
Publisher creates a reserve of $5,000 in January in case there are returns after Christmas, so they only send the author $5,000.
In Jan-June there are $3,000 worth of returns sent back which is charged against that reserve.
So the publisher gives the author the $2,000 balance in their next check.
But the publisher, in essence, made some additional interest income on that $2,000 because that reserve sat in a bank for six months. Smart business!

Now all you accountants out there, please don’t criticize this example. I know there are new sales and new reserves and all sort of other nuances and the interest rates are currently pathetic (and therefore little incentive), but I’m trying to make a different point.

Therefore let me use real numbers for you. I won’t tell you who the publisher is, or what the book is, or how many copies were sold to generate the numbers. You won’t be able to guess, so please don’t try. These numbers are taken from an author’s last two actual royalty statements to show you what I’m illustrating. I can tell you that the author’s book was published more than three years ago… And publisher is still withholding returns each cycle.

Statement A (first six months)
Royalty earnings from Sales – $941
Reserves withheld in previous cycle credited back to Author – $940
Reserves withheld this cycle – $626

Total Earnings this cycle – $1,255  ($941+$940-$626)

Statement B (second six months)
Royalty earnings from Sales – $825
Reserves withheld in previous cycle credited back to Author  - $626
Reserves withheld this cycle – $688

Total Earnings this cycle – $763

The publisher has kept about $600 of the author’s money in their “reserve” pocket in case there is a return, for a full year. But if this were multiplied across every title in this publisher’s warehouse think of the amount of that reserve. If they have 5,000 titles in their warehouse and they are only floating a reserve average of $400 per title, they are earning interest on two million dollars. (At 2% that is $40,000 in earned interest.)

Again, I do not begrudge the publisher of the necessity of withholding a reserve. But when it starts to appear to be a form of clever accounting I get a little testy.

My preference would be to have a clause in the contract under the Reserve Against Returns section to read:

Publisher has the right to reserve for anticipated future returns. Reserves are never established to avoid paying royalties, but to eliminate the situation where royalties might be paid out on sales that are ultimately reversed. Such reserves will be used only when the publisher is aware that inventories exist in the marketplace that are not selling through and will likely be returned. Reserves are not limited to a certain percentage of sales, but in all cases must be defensible by the publisher.

Agents can dream too, can’t they?

By they way? Lest you think I’m ignoring the E-elephant in the room? Ebooks technically do not have returns since there is no physical inventory on a shelf to handle. Consequently there should never be a reserve against returns on e-books. But I’m still trying to track down the oddity of a recent royalty statement where the author had negative 3,000 e-books sold. How can you unsell 3,000 e-books? Yes, you can return an e-book bought by mistake on Amazon. I’ve done it to see if it is possible. It is. But all that does is counter the sale made the day before. So to have thousands of returns boggles the mind. Even the accountants are flummoxed. Maybe I’ll tell you the rest of that story when the mystery is solved.

For a brilliant discussion about other implications of returns take a look at this post by Mike Shatzkin and Michael Cader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fear of Rejection

June 20, 2011 in Business, Steve, Writing with 4 Comments

Randy Ingermanson recently interviewed author Mary DeMuth in his “Advanced Fiction Writing E-Zine” and the topic of rejection surfaced. I thought it was very insightful and, with permission, am posting their conversation.

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My friend Mary DeMuth recently published an e-book with the title The 11 Secrets of Getting Published.

Given that the price is only $2.99, I assumed the book would be about 50 pages with a few simple tips on breaking into publishing.

When Mary sent me a copy, I was astounded to find that it ran to 229 pages of solid information on breaking in. Developing your craft. Learning discipline.

Learning to accept critiques. Writing a query and a proposal. And tons more. Mary packed this book.

The chapter that hit home for me was titled, “Overcome Fear and Rejection.” You’d think I’d be good at that after 23 years of this writing game, but I still hate rejection and I still battle fear.

Last week, I did an interview on Skype with Mary for over an hour. We talked about several topics from her book. In this column, I’ll run only the conversation we had on fear and rejection. (I’ll publish the full conversation on my blog soon.)

Here’s our dialogue:

RI: One of the main sections of your e-book is about overcoming fear and rejection. That sounds a little like, “Don’t think about pink elephants.” You can’t do that by thinking about it. So how do you do it?

MD: As I said earlier, rejection is a sign of growth.
If you’re not submitting, you won’t be rejected. But if you are submitting, you will be.

RI: Well, aren’t you Miss Sunshine today?

MD: You have to settle your own issues of personal worth as you head into publishing or those rejections will mess with your mind.

RI: Expand on that personal worth thing. That’s something I wrestle with.

MD: Well, if I believe that publishing is the validation of my life, if I’m rejected, suddenly I have no validation. But if I realize my worth isn’t what I do but who I am, I can learn to weather rejection. It doesn’t have to devastate me.

RI: Personal worth for me is tied to achievement. So if I haven’t achieved anything yet, what’s my personal worth?

MD: Ah, Randy. All of us here would heartily agree that you’re worth your weight in gold (to use a cliche). I think this journey has been placed in front of me so that I’ll learn the important lesson that I am much more than what I produce and achieve.

RI: It seems like there are two mistakes to make though. The other error is the whole “self esteem” thing. So everybody gets a trophy, whether they did anything or not. It seems like we have to strike a balance.

MD: Yeah, and that’s what self publishing has done to publishing. I will run into people who have basically sent a Word file to a company and had it “published” with 100 typos and they feel like they’re published. Without any sweat or effort. Makes me a little crabby.

RI: I see a lot of writers with a misguided belief that just because they typed a story, it’s going to be a bestseller, just cuz. “Because I’m the center of the universe.” Well, they’ve certainly published, but not necessarily anything worth reading.

MD: Yeah, and I’m here to say that is truly not the reality. Everyone needs to grow. Not everyone can write a bestseller. You can even write award winning books and not sell.

RI: But let’s get back to that self-worth thing. We need it in order to handle rejection. But if we have an exaggerated self-worth, then we ignore the very real critiques of our work that would force us to grow.

MD: Yes. You have to settle your calling. That’s what helps me weather the ups and downs of publishing. I know-know-know that I am gifted to write. That I’m supposed to write. Because of that settled knowledge, when I’m rejected, I can dust myself off and keep at it.

RI: How do you develop a realistic self-worth that will get you through the hard times without being crushed?
What I mean is, how do you “know” that?

MD: That’s a good question. For me it’s been looking back over my life and seeing all the input I’ve received over the years. Folks told me I could write when I wrote Christmas letters. My teachers saw the gift. And, yes, mentors have helped me hone the gift and encouraged me to continue.

RI: Maybe it comes down to a trusted editor or coach or friend? I critique a lot of writers at conferences.
What I notice is that most of them either think too highly of their own work or else too poorly. Very few have an accurate idea of how well they write.

MD: And I find when I meet someone who has a balanced perspective, he/she is most likely the person who will be published. We must be teachable, yet confident in our calling to write.

RI: Right, I was just thinking of Jim Rubart, whom I met a few years ago at a conference.  I think he knew he had the goods, but he also knew that he needed some guidance. What I saw right away was that he was very well balanced.

MD: He’s a good example. And then he published a bestselling book with B & H publishing! But it took several years. That balance is a rare thing. He paid his dues. Learned the craft. And eventually published. He also is a marketer, so I think that helped too.

RI: I think most writers I run into suffer from the “I am dirt” mentality. But the ones in the most trouble are the “I am gold; kneel before me” writers. You can’t tell them anything.

MD: Note to writers who think they are dirt: You’re not. Rest there. Learn now, be teachable, and keep at it. True.

RI: I’ve only seen a very few writers who really were horribly bad writers. And oddly enough, I think all of them thought they were spectacular.

MD: I’ve seen a few. Yes, they thought they were awesome.

RI: I’d much rather coach an “I am dirt” writer. They can be taught, usually. Do you ever suffer from those feelings that your writing totally sucks and that you’re a fraud?

MD: Totally. Every time I hand in a manuscript, I panic. That happened recently. I wrote a book that I thought was schlock and that I’d surely be found out.

RI: Yeah, you get that horrible feeling that “This book is the train wreck which will expose me for the fraud I’ve always been.”

MD: I was very surprised when the editor emailed me praising the book, calling it a classic. Absolutely floored me. Yes, I think we all think that way. I wrote an article once about that for Writers Digest called “Inspiration vs. Perspiration.”

About how inspiration doesn’t always mean the prose is good. Nor does perspiration mean it’s bad. Often the best prose comes when we push our way through, painful word by painful word.

RI: Gack, that sounds . . . painful. So what’s the bottom line here for writers? On the fear and rejection thing?

MD: Perspire until the inspiration comes. Not vice- versa. On fear and rejection: it will come, but don’t wallow there. You have to be a bootstrap writer.

RI: I just had an insight. Maybe the best way to deal with fear and rejection is to know that other writers also have fears and hate rejection. Real writers. Published writers. Award-winning authors. Best-selling authors.

MD: Yes, we’re in community. And honestly, when I suffer from a big rejection, I go to my writer friends and ask them for advice. Usually I get encouragement back. And that makes me want to keep at it.

RI: So maybe the real answer isn’t “Suck it up.” Maybe the real answer is “Misery loves company.”

MD: True. The best thing you can do as a writer is form a community of like minded writers around you.

RI: A topic for another day. I just wrote a column on that in the June issue of my e-zine on the subject of what I call “Allies.”

Well, Mary, that about does it for today. We’ve talked just a little about one of the 11 topics you cover in your new e-book, The 11 Secrets of Getting Published. This book is now available for $2.99 at all the usual online retail outlets.

Here’s a link to Mary’s book on Amazon:

www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com/blinks/demuth/11secrets.php

Visit Mary on the web here:

www.marydemuth.com

www.facebook.com/authormarydemuth

www.twitter.com/marydemuth

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Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the Snowflake Guy,” publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 26,000 readers, every month. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing and get a free 5-Day Course in How To Publish a Novel.

And don’t forget to check out Randy’s “Snowflake Pro” software. Just click here for a full explanation of this valuable resource.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Myth of the Unearned Advance

June 13, 2011 in Business, Publishing, Steve, Writing with 43 Comments

by Steve Laube

A common myth permeating the industry is that a book is not profitable if the author’s advance does not earn out. I would like to attempt to dispel this myth.

First let’s define the term “Advance.” When a book contract is created between a publisher and an author, the author is usually paid an advance. This is like getting an advance against your allowance when you were a kid. It isn’t an amount that is in addition to any future earnings from the sale of the book. Instead, like that allowance, it is money paid in advance against all future royalties, and it must therefore be covered by royalty revenue (i.e. earned out) before any new royalty earnings are paid.

The advance is usually determined by a series of assumptions that the publisher makes with regard to the projected performance of each title. The publisher hopes/plans that the book will earn enough royalty revenue to cover the advance within the first year of sales.

A NY Times essay a couple years ago casually claimed “the fact that 7 out of 10 titles do not earn back their advance.” Of course they did not cite a source for that “fact.” But I have seen it quoted so often is must be true! (and it isn’t.) The implication then is that a book isn’t profitable if it doesn’t earn out its advance. The publisher overpaid and has lost money. The author is the happy camper who is counting their cash gleefully celebrating the failure of their publisher to project sales correctly.

Let me try to explain why that isn’t always true. And to do so means we have to do math together. This may be a little complicated, but realize that these calculations are critical and each publisher runs these kind of scenarios on your books. To dismiss this conversation and claim you “don’t do math” is to ignore the lifeblood of your profession.

Realize that this is a generic model. Each and every number below fluctuates from title to title. That is the weakness of the exercise, but bear with me.

Assumptions:

Advance paid to author: $10,000
Retail price: $13.00 (paperback)
Net price: $6.50 (this is what the publisher receives when they sell the book – to dealers, big box retailers, distributors, etc. )
Copies sold: 10,000

Scenario one: Author earns 14% of net for each book sold. ($6.50 net x 14% royalty x 10,000 sold)
Thus, after selling 10,000 copies the author has earned $9,100.
Leaving $900 of the advance unearned.

Scenario two: Author earns 16% of net for each book sold ($6.50 net x 16% royalty x 10,000 sold)
Thus, after selling 10,000 copies the author has earned $10,400.
The publisher writes a royalty check to the author for $400. The amount above the original advance.

The myth says that scenario one equates a failed and unprofitable book , while scenario two is a profitable book.
But wait! Let’s do some more math.

New Assumptions. (remember these are all estimates based solely on this scenario.)

BOTH scenarios have the publisher making the same amount of revenue. ($6.50 net x 10,000 sold.) Both scenarios generated $65,000 in net revenue for the publisher.

To determine profitability we have to subtract costs.

Fixed costs

Editorial expense: $8,000 (includes all stages of the editorial process)
Design (typesetting/cover): $4,000
Printing and warehousing:  $15,000 (the approximate cost of printing 12,000 copies)
Marketing and PR: $10,000 (an average of $1 per book)
Administrative costs: $13,000 (20% of the net revenue)
Advance paid to author: $10,000
TOTAL COSTS: $60,000

Profit for the Publisher: $5,000 (or 7.7% of revenue before tax)
or the $65,000 in revenue minus the $60,000 of total costs.

Are you with me so far?

Now watch this.

Scenario one – (with the unearned advance still on the books) has a profit of $5,000 for the publisher.

Scenario two – (pays the author $400 for earnings beyond the advance) has a profit of $4,600 for the publisher.

In this comparison it is the book that didn’t earn out the advance that actually makes more money for the publisher!

Why? Because scenario one pays a lower royalty per book sold. The advance itself has NOTHING to do with it. The advance is a fixed cost that is covered by the revenue generated by the publisher.

_____

Pause and reflect on that for a moment.

_____

The advance is a cost of acquisition. If that cost of acquisition in the above scenario were $50,000 of course neither scenario would have been profitable because sales would not have been enough to cover all the costs. And it is likely, if there was a $50,000 advance, the publisher would have spent more on marketing and PR.

So this is not an argument for bigger advances. Instead it is an attempt to show, albeit using controlled statistics, that an unearned advance does not necessarily equate the failure of a book!

So when is a book profitable if there is a bigger advance?

Let me do one more set of numbers to illustrate:

Assumptions:

Advance paid to author: $75,000
Retail price: $13.00 (paperback)
Net price: $6.50
Copies sold: 45,000
TOTAL REVENUE ($6.50 net x 45,000 sold.) = $292,500.

Fixed costs

Editorial expense: $8,000
Design (typesetting/cover): $4,000
Printing and warehousing:  $55,000 (the approximate cost of printing 50,000 copies)
Marketing and PR: $75,000
Administrative costs: $58,500 (20% of the net revenue)
Advance paid to author: $75,000
TOTAL COSTS: $275,500

Profit for the Publisher: $17,000 (or 5.8% of revenue before tax)

If you are an experienced person from the publishing side of the table it is obvious that this is a very generic scenario that has only an echo of reality. For example, the net revenue for a publisher is usually less than the 50% of retail that I used above. That is because distributors and specialty vendors (like the book racks you see in the airport) command a much higher discount off the retail. Thus the true picture is highly complex. And we don’t even touch on ebooks or ebook sales or royalties here. This exercise is merely to show a business model where the advance is a fixed cost. Not a cost that has to be earned out for the book to be profitable.

In the above case, a book with a $75,000 advance makes money after only 45,000 copies are sold.

So what do you think? Is the math realistic? Does it make sense? What are the implications (either to the publisher or the author)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Agent Joins Us!

May 17, 2011 in Agency, Business with 36 Comments

We are thrilled to announce that Tamela Hancock Murray is joining The Steve Laube Agency as a new literary agent for the firm. For the last ten years she has been with the Hartline Literary Agency representing a number of successful authors.

She interned on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Department of State before graduating with honors in Journalism from Lynchburg College in Virginia. Tamela brings significant writing expertise to the agency as an author of over twenty novels, novellas, and nonfiction works. When she’s not working as an agent Tamela spends time with her husband and their two daughters.

She will be working out of her office in Virginia, giving the agency a specific East Coast connection.

Proposals meant for Tamela can be sent to ewilson@stevelaube.com.

 

 

New Author Acronyms

March 29, 2011 in Business, Humor, Writing with 15 Comments

Last week the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added a bunch of new words to their august tome. What made news is that four of the words aren’t words at all but acronyms that have crept into our everyday communication via the Internet. “Words” like LOL, OMG, BFF, and IMHO.

In honor of this auspicious occasion I thought it would be fun to see if we can find other acronyms that should become part of our language, if for no other reason, because of their frequent use.

IHMM (I Hate My Manuscript) – A common cry of every writer while in the midst of the creative process. Self-doubt and lack of confidence create this acronym.

INMT (I Need More Time) – Deadlines should be carved in stone, but are often sketched in pencil. Ask any editor what frustrates them the most and missed deadlines will be in their top five.

GMMM (Get Me More Money) – A universal acronym for all who write for a living.

DQYDJ (Don’t Quit Your Day Job) – See the above acronym.

HOGR (Harbinger of Grim Reality) – Pronounced “ogre.” After hearing my presentation on the state of the publishing industry at a writers conference this acronym was conferred on me by Thomas Umstattd. Despite the appellation I hired his firm to redesign this web site.

ILMA (I Love My Agent) – Ah, sweet mystery of life. The rarest of acronyms. Much more desirable than the alternate…BSP (Blood-Sucking Parasite).

What acronym can you create to add to our version of the OED?

 

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