Tag Archive - Publishing

Never Burn a Bridge

January 30, 2012 in Agency, Business, Defense of Traditional Publishing, Publishing, Steve, Trends with 11 Comments

by Steve Laube

The sale of Thomas Nelson to HarperCollins and last week’s sale of Heartsong to Harlequin brought to mind a critical piece of advice:

Never Burn a Bridge!

Ours is a small industry and both editors and authors move around with regularity. If you are in a business relationship and let your frustration boil into anger and ignite into rage…and let that rage descend on someone in the publishing company, you may end up burning a bridge. And that person who you vented on might someday become the head of an entire publishing company.

True Story

A salesman got into a verbal altercation with the buyer for a major chain. The salesman stormed out and called his boss asking to be taken off the account so that he would never have to talk to that buyer again. A month later the salesman’s company hired that buyer as the salesman’s new boss. (Yikes!)

A, B, C, D, & E (and beyond)

Scenario based on a true story: An author was so frustrated with her editor she wrote a scathing letter to the publisher (A) dressing down the entire editorial staff. The next year that editor moved to a different publisher (B) and when that author’s proposal was presented at a meeting, the editor relayed to the publishing team (B) the volatility of that writer.

Soon the writer was with a new publisher (C) because she was so mad with her previous publisher. Everything was great…until something set the writer off. She again melted down and with a scorched earth method set every relationship on fire…and watched it burn. A year later the marketing at this publisher (C) moved to a new opportunity at another publisher (D). And shortly thereafter the editor (C) became an editorial director at yet another publisher (E).

You see the pattern? There are technically five publishers that were burned by this author, two by action, three by proxy. Each bridge fell into the river. And guess what, this writer is now mad at her publisher (C) but is having trouble finding a new home.

A Last Example

When working as an editor I had an agent call me on the phone and berated me and our company for about five minutes. Most of the monologue was done by shouting. The agent concluded their rant by demanding to talk to our Vice President. So I called the VP with a warning and transferred the call. I later asked how the call went. My VP said everything was all peaches and cream, so why did I need to issue a warning? It became obvious that this agent just wanted to get past me to talk to “someone important,” i.e. a real decision maker. Suffice it to say I knew something about that agent that stuck with me…especially after I was promoted and became a “real decision maker.”

(Don’t ask who I have been talking about, it is irrelevant. I’ve been in the industry for 30 years and have seen a lot of things happen over a long period of time.)

What Do You Do When Things Go Wrong?

1. Talk to your agent.  Your agent’s inbox or phone line should be a safe place to vent. Do not vent to your critique group, to your writing friends, on Twitter, or Facebook, or your blog. Talk to someone you can trust. You might actually be wrong in your frustration and don’t know that what you are experiencing is supposed to happen that way. Every agent will concur that a big part of our job is helping our clients measure their frustration in a professional manner.

[[I've spoken to authors who did not have an agent and things had gone wrong with their publisher. Things that could have been easily prevented with a good contract or a solid relationship with the company. These authors now want an agent to come in and fix things. Often it is too late. So, at the risk of sounding self-serving, this is one really good reason to have an agent from the beginning.]]

2. Own the anger, but don’t let it control. It is foolish to deny that you are frustrated. But letting emotion control your actions is not a good idea.

3. Write out your thoughts and send it to your agent in an email but only if you can trust the agent not to forward it to anyone. Better yet, call your agent and read it over the phone. You are a writer! Use your gift to express your thoughts. Sometimes that is enough and you will never have to hit the “send” button. What I have done on occasion is ask that the client to write the “Angry Letter” but send it to me and only me. Many times I can edit the tone and the words and put the language in “publisher’s speak” so that everyone’s situation is respected and frustration expressed firmly but without anger.

4. Beware of bitterness or distrust. I read so many blogs from authors, both Christian and in the general market, who love to tell their tales of woe, and then conclude that all publishers and editors are evil.

Remember that people make mistakes. And sometimes businesses make business decisions that affect you negatively. I understand. I’ve been fired from a job with no warning before, I understand. But it can only become worse if you let that pain fester inside like an infection. Your craft will suffer and your calling as a writer will be stunted.

5. Remember Colossians 3:12-13 where Paul wrote: “Put on…compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

By the way…

I said never burn a bridge. But I didn’t say you can’t light them on fire. There are times where you need to make a stand for what is right or point out an error. It is how you make that information known determines whether or not that bridge can still be used the next morning. But that may be a good post for another day.

The Bestseller Code

January 23, 2012 in Craft, Publishing, Steve, Writing with 49 Comments

by Steve Laube

Take the Bestseller Code test. I dare you.

The web site www.thebestsellercode.com is fascinating. Through some mysterious algorithm it evaluates about 500 words of your novel and grades it on a scale of one to twenty (1 to 20).

Does it work? I gave it a try with a recent proposal from a bestselling client. I took the first page and a half and plugged it into the test. It scored 20.0. A Perfect Score!

Then I took the first page and a half from a recent unsolicited novel and plugged it into the test. It only scored 4.6…out of 20. I had to agree, that sample was awful.

Now is your chance for fun. Go to the site and get your score. Then come back here and tell us in the comments, if you are brave.

Disclaimer: Do I need to write one? But in case you aren’t sure, we do not use this for our in-house evaluation purposes. A computer cannot tell if yours is a good story or not. It can only compare word choices and number of syllables. It has no sense of style or storytelling ability. This is simply a fun way to look at the structure and craft of your writing.

But I will say the comparison of a bestselling author to an unschooled first-timer (20.0 vs. 4.6) was rather astounding.

2011 – The Year in Review

January 2, 2012 in Agency, Business, Contracts, Publishing, Steve with 6 Comments

by Steve Laube

It is a good exercise to reflect on the past year. Count the blessings, reflect on the hard lessons, and remember the good times.

The highlight was bringing both Tamela Hancock Murray and Karen Ball into the agency in late May. I was and continue to be very excited about the talent and work these two are doing on behalf of our clients.

That hard work had visible results as we secured sixty-four (64) new book contracts that will cover 113 new books. That works out to a new contract every four business days.

There were some challenges with three authors having their contracts cancelled for a variety of reasons. This is never easy, but it can happen.

Keeping track of the blistering changes in the industry would give any sane person whiplash. Amazon’s surge and Border’s demise gave many of us pause. I read over 150 pages of industry related material each week in an attempt to keep up. I like to joke that an agent’s job is to keep track 24/7 because the industry can change on Tuesday. This was proven last month when two major personnel changes were announced on the same day at two different firms…and that day was Tuesday.

The biggest publishing news event was the sale of Thomas Nelson to HarperCollins. (click here for my thoughts on that event.)

Our client list grew exponentially with the addition of Tamela and Karen. We now represent over 150 authors. It is an honor and a privilege to serve such a talented group.

We redesigned the web site early in the year which created the infrastructure to ramp up our blogging efforts. Having three agents allows us to share the blogging load so each person takes one day while I also collect weekly news articles and find something lighthearted to share each Friday. The number of regular readers has tripled since mid-year.

I spoke at seven different writer’s events around the country and also attended my 30th consecutive ICRS convention in July.

On a personal note my wife and I celebrated our 30th Anniversary and we took an Alaskan cruise along with my brothers and their wives. What made it even greater was being able to watch our daughter perform 14 times in 10 days since she was one of the dancers on board the Sea Princess. We topped off our trip by visiting my parents to celebrate my father’s 90th birthday. Then later in the year we celebrated the 100th birthday of my wife’s grandmother.

Here is wishing you all a happy new year!

Christian Romance — Fact or Fiction?

December 1, 2011 in Publishing, Romance, Tamela, Writing with 48 Comments

by Tamela Hancock Murray

In response to a recent blog post, “A Matter of Taste,”  a reader asked what I would say if someone claimed there is no such thing as Christian romance.

In fact, I have been confronted with this question before. At a Christian writers’ conference a few years ago, a woman told me in a snide manner that romance is a “fantasy” and walked away before I could respond. I felt especially sad that the woman was no doubt a fellow Christian, but it sounded like it had come from a jaded secularist. I believe this woman’s attitude reflects her own experience rather than the state of Christian publishing. True, not all real life endings are happy, and Christian romance novels traditionally end with the premise that the couple will enjoy a bright future. That is the hope and promise these books offer. Indeed, isn’t that the hope and promise of weddings in real life?

The Lord never promised Christians perfect unions. My heart aches for anyone in a miserable marriage. Hurt people hurt people, so no amount of convincing will change some minds about romance. But God is bigger than any situation, and He heals willing hearts.

Inspiration

Yet to dismiss Christian romance as a fantasy is wrong, in my view. When I wrote my own Christian romance novels, my husband inspired the best elements in my heroes. My heroines were not modeled upon myself, but on women I admire. I gave my heroines qualities I wish I had in bounty. I felt uplifted as I wrote my stories. Judging from the fan mail, those stories connected with readers as well. Other authors receive heartwarming fan mail by the bagful, so I know God is using Christian romance novels to touch lives.

In Real Life…

As for real life? My husband and I have the advantage of great examples. All four sets of grandparents demonstrated “till death do us part.” Three sets celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries. Our family demonstrates that the Lord is a God of second chances, too. My husband’s mother is the child of her mother’s second marriage, as she was widowed young. My mother-in-law always speaks of how her parents encouraged her and her brother to be active in church. She ended up marrying the youth pastor who moved to town from the Midwest!

Both sets of our parents have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversaries. They are still devoted to each other. Though we aren’t perfect, my husband and I have tried to emulate their models. We make time for one another every day. We are individuals, but have cultivated the same interests so we enjoy doing the same things. We look forward to spending time together. We are devoted to each other. To me, that is the key word: devotion. How can you not feel romantic toward your mate when you are both devoted to one another?

Your turn:

What do you do to make your Christian marriage a Christian romance? Share your best ideas and stories!

Writers Learn the Waiting Game

November 28, 2011 in Business, Contracts, Marketing, Publishing, Steve with 32 Comments

by Steve Laube

Ours is a process industry. Good publishing takes time. Unfortunately time is another word for “waiting.” No one really likes to wait for anything. Our instant society (everything from Twitter to a drive-thru burger) is training us to want things to happen faster. Awhile ago I wrote about how long it takes to get published which gave an honest appraisal of the time involved. Below are some of the things for which a writer must learn to wait.

Waiting for the Agent

We try our best to reply to submissions within 6-8 weeks and are relatively good about that. But if your project passes the first review stage and we are now reviewing your entire manuscript remember that reading a full manuscript is much more demanding than reading a few short proposals.

If you are already represented all I can say is that agents do their best to be responsive to your questions and phone calls. Crisis Management is part of our job description. But one of the first things a First Responder must do is triage. Some issues are more critical than others which can create consternation if yours is next in line instead of first.

Waiting for a Publisher

After working hard to get your proposal just right we send it out to a select list of publishers. Then we sit back and wait. It can take 3-6 months to hear an answer from a publisher. The longest our agency waited was 22 months before we received a contract offer. No kidding. Just shy of two years. [Both I and my client had already moved on, thinking the project was dead.] But that is truly the exception. I believe that if we don’t receive some sort of answer within four months it is probably not going to connect.

Waiting for Your Contract

Once terms are agreed it can take quite a while to get the actual contract issued by some publishers. Many can take as long as two months to generate the paperwork. We once had to change the date of the contract because it had taken so long to create the paperwork that the due date for the manuscript was earlier than the actual date on the contract! This delay can be excruciating. Ask your agent what is typical for the specific publisher you are working with. Some are quick some are slooooow.

Waiting for Your Editor

You met your deadline. And then you wait.

Months.

And you begin wondering if anyone is reading the manuscript at all!

This is actually quite typical. The publisher needs to have the manuscript in hand to know that it actually has been written. But don’t think the editor is sitting at their inbox, on the due date, with rapt anticipation of receiving your contracted manuscript. They manage their time in order to keep things in the queue and moving along. It can very frustrating to wait. The key here is to be in communication with your editor. It is okay to ask! Or talk to your agent to see if they know if there is anything going on that is preventing that editor from working on your book.

Waiting for Your Marketing and Publicity to Kick In

The new author is so excited about their new book that they want to start chatting about it the day after they turn in the manuscript. A great athlete or sports team wants to peak at the right time, never too early. The same with book promotion. If you begin tweeting and Facebooking (is that a verb now?) without inventory to back it up, the window of sales opportunity closes.

“But e-books solves that issue because they can be ready today!” you shout. Remember that a lot of people still buy books in stores, online, and off your back table at an event. The physical book is still alive and well and must be available if your publicity and marketing is to be effective.

Recently we had a client contacted by “People” magazine for an interview. Unfortunately their book won’t be out for another year. The story is timeless and we asked if they would be willing to wait for the interview and run it as part of a larger campaign. The risk is that they won’t do the story, but it would have been worse to tell the story and not have a book to back up the feature.

Waiting for Your Money

When I became an agent I didn’t know I’d become a Collections Agent…not just a Literary Agent. Getting paid can take time (i.e. waiting).

Waiting for the “on signing” advance — Normally the publisher can take a full 30 days before issuing the check.

Waiting for the “on acceptance of manuscript” advance — This can vary widely. Just because you turned it in doesn’t mean it is acceptable. One publisher we work with will not issue a “acceptance” check until the book has gone through every stage of the editorial process and has been sent to production for typesetting. This can take months.

Waiting for the advance to earn out and new royalty earnings to arrive — Yes, some books do not earn out their advances. (Read the post about “The Myth of the Unearned Advance.”) But many do earn out and the money eventually starts coming, even if in tiny pieces. This can take a couple years.

_____

At each stage the writer chaffs at the process. This is quite understandable. Recently I read an author’s angry screed (on their blog) criticizing their publisher for the excruciating process of getting their book out. The problem, as I see it, is that the author’s expectations were not in line with reality. Much of a writer’s angst can be avoided by understanding the process and modifying their expectations to match.

Therefore my encouragement for you is to learn the waiting game. Some scientists even claim that it might be good for you (click here for the article). Truly it is to your benefit to accept the nature of this process and embrace the agony of waiting. Anticipating the result can be as fulfilling as holding the finished product.

 

A Matter of Taste

November 3, 2011 in Business, Marketing, Romance, Tamela, Writing with 24 Comments

by Tamela Hancock Murray

I always enjoy reading comments on our blog posts. Recently a reader posted a provocative question:

In this time of great emotional upheaval, instability, and unrest, aren’t we ready for something more solid and inspiring than just different types of romance novels?

Those of you familiar with my career know that I am the author of many romance novels and stories — and Bible trivia books!

And while I represent a variety of authors in fiction and nonfiction, my list is weighted heavily to romantic stories. I do realize that not everyone has the same taste — nor should we. God has created each of as unique, and CBA offers a variety of books to accommodate all readers. Please see the twentieth entry in the comments section of my post, Study the Market, for my unscientific suggestions for those looking for limited or no romance in novels.

History Repeats Itself

As to whether readers are ready for heavier books during hard economic times, I would say that economic times themselves have little or no bearing on popular tastes. Because people always have been and always will be unique, in perpetuity you will find a segment looking to escape their problems and another segment looking to confront them in entertainment. Today’s tough economy is likened to the Great Depression. This decade brought us the complicated life and romances of Scarlett O’Hara  in the 1936 book release, Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, which led to the 1939 movie starring a king of Hollywood, Clark Gable. This decade also brought us the 1939 release of a gritty and hardscrabble The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, followed by the 1940 film, when the country had not yet recovered and was on the brink of war.

The Good Ship Lollipop

In the meantime, my grandmother, whom I called Precious, was watching Shirley Temple  films, lighthearted and heartwarming stories that are still run on TV from time to time and can be bought in a variety of volumes on DVD.  Shirley was so popular that Precious owned, among other trivia, a water pitcher and drinking glass set bearing Shirley’s image. Escapism? Yes. Popular? Wildly. Oh, and my other grandmother watched her “stories” on TV from 12:30 to 4 PM every week day — diversions popular through prosperity, inflation, stagflation, detente, and other such worldly cares.

Variety in Entertainment

Because I don’t want this post to lapse into a burdensome tome overstating a point, suffice it to say, a study of entertainment history shows a consistent pattern of musicals and anti-war plus pro-war films in time of war and silliness alongside consciousness-raising books in times of unrest. Some authors want to address society’s problems — and we will always have problems, though immediate concerns will vary. Those blessed enough to find an outlet and an audience for the important points they want to make may well change society, or at least make people think. But those books and films are likely to attract a different audience than lighthearted stories. There is plenty of room for both.

The Importance of Romance

And please don’t discount romantic stories and genre romance as fluff in the Christian Market. Read one or more of these books and think about the stories. The ones I have written, read, and represent have an underlying spiritual thread and message. In fact, the spiritual arc is one of the proposal points I ask my novelists to include in their proposals. The difference here is, our  romance authors are writing the love story as the focus but intertwine spiritual truths. They are not looking to offer a sermon, then the romance. Those who dismiss romance novels and romantic stories should reconsider. God is great, and He can and does use romantic stories to change lives. My authors have the fan letters to prove it.

Your turn:

What is your favorite romance or romantic story you have read in the Christian market? What books do you recommend in other categories?

 

 

 

Perspective on the Sale of Thomas Nelson Publishers

November 1, 2011 in Business, Publishing, Steve with 35 Comments

by Steve Laube

In light of yesterday’s announcement of the sale of Thomas Nelson Publishers to HarperCollins I thought I’d present a few thoughts.

Without question this is the biggest news story in the Christian publishing industry this year, if not the last few years. Most of us have been caught flat-footed. Partly because Thomas Nelson is such a large company. And partly because they were just purchased by an investment group last year. The other surprise is the buyer. HarperCollins has owned Zondervan since 1988 which is a direct competitor to Nelson. They publish some of the same authors. (And by the way, HarperCollins is owned by NewsCorp…whose owner is Rupert Murdoch.)

Back in 2002 when I was still with Bethany House Publishers we were sold to Baker Books. So I’ve seen some of the inside of a publishing sale. There will be some obvious echoes to our experience, but Zondervan and Nelson are very different from Bethany House and Baker.

Ten Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts for authors who are worried or wondering about the sale:

1.  The sale has not been completed . It still has to pass Federal regulatory stuff. Anything can happen before the end of the year.

2. This will put both the New International Version Bible (NIV) and the New King James Bible (NKJV) under the same ownership.

3. Everyone at both Zondervan and Nelson is saying “business as usual” and they are being completely truthful. But when management begins trying to merge the two entities under one roof they will find redundancies that must be reorganized. Those are usually in infrastructure, i.e. accounting, information technology, production, design, warehousing (Zondervan’s warehouse was already being closed). Other areas where we see changes are in sales. Which sales reps will cover which stores in overlapping territories? Marketing and publicity could see some shifts. The last place usually affected is editorial. But don’t see this as a blueprint, merely an observation.

4. HarperCollins has enabled Zondervan to operate independently other than typical corporate profit pressures and they have done so with some great success (like the Purpose Driven Life phenomenon). There is no reason to think that management methodology will change.

5. The biggest future question for literary agents comes in the proposal stage. Currently we have had times when Zondervan and Nelson were vying for the same property. If they are under one roof it remains to be seen whether that practice will continue. For example Baker Books, Bethany House, and Revell do not bid against each other because they are under one “roof” as part of the Baker Publishing Group.

6. What does this mean for the existing Zondervan or Thomas Nelson author? One, there will likely be little change for now.  Current projects will move forward as before. Nothing will come to a standstill because that would mean revenue would stop. Two, if you have an old contract with Thomas Nelson for a book they still have under their care I would dig it out and read the “Assignment” clause. Find out if your book can be “assigned” to HarperCollins without your permission. That is likely the case, but be sure. Ask your agent if you are unclear. Three, our understanding is that acquisitions will continue as before. (But see number five above.) If you are an author with Westbow (the self-publishing arm of Thomas Nelson) I doubt if anything will change. HarperCollins has a company called Authonomy that helps give self-published authors a forum for discovery.

7. In a christianbook.com search I counted 2,900 Zondervan books and 3,300 Nelson books. (Only books, not Bibles.) That is astounding. (Tyndale House has 1,400 titles listed.) It truly will make this the largest Christian publishing company in the world.

8. Should authors be worried? No. The corporate landscape is always changing. Does this mean fewer publishing slots will be available? Possibly. Time will tell. Fortunately there are some pretty smart people in charge and they all have a vested interest in not breaking what isn’t broken.

9. Will they change the name of one of the companies after the purchase goes through? I doubt it. At least not in the foreseeable future. Both company names are iconic and have a rich tradition of quality and strength.

10. Is HarperCollins done? Or are they going to buy up other Christian publishers too? I had to chuckle when I heard that question….as if I would know or could predict. :-) My two cents says that they will have their hands full with this integration process. I could be wrong, but if it were me, I’d make sure this went very smoothly first before acquiring other companies.

Do you have any questions or thoughts on this? I’m happy to try to answer them in the comment section below.

Update 11/07/2011:

News Corp. is paying $200 million for Thomas Nelson, the parent company of HarperCollins disclosed in its quarterly filing on Friday November 4th. In 2006, InterMedia paid $473 million for the publisher which had sales of $253 million at the time.

 

Study the Market

October 20, 2011 in Business, Marketing, Tamela, Trends, Writing with 24 Comments

by Tamela Hancock Murray


What is the best way to find out what is successful in the current market?

This is a good question because while as an author, you don’t want to chase the market, you also don’t want to write books that are so far off from the current market that they have no chance of selling. First and foremost, marketing advice from any source assumes that authors submit their best, most polished, highest quality work. Just because vampire novels enjoy popularity now, doesn’t mean publishers will acquire just any novel with a vampire. The novel must sparkle to sell to a publisher and then to readers. I don’t recommend chasing nonfiction trends either, because one or two popular authors can quickly saturate the market on any given topic. Or as Steve Laube says, “If you are asking what’s hot…you are too late.” Although some topics are evergreen, as a rule the market can only absorb so many books on a topic. Writing about a tangent of a popular topic won’t help because then the book is in danger of being too narrow to sell to a large audience. It’s then a niche of a niche.

How to Choose

I recommend choosing a topic, setting, and story that stirs your passion. If you don’t feel passion for your work, readers will know. A friend once told me of an aspiring writer who tried to imitate Anne Rice because he went into a book store and noted the popularity of vampires. He went home and wrote a vampire book and hoped to hit the big time. I’ve yet to see the writer in print. My guess? He wrote only for money so his story was bloodless.

The Time Factor

Unless you’ve been in publishing awhile, you may not realize the amount of time that transpires from an author typing The End on a computer screen to a book appearing in print can be a year or more. (See our previous blog “How Long Does It Take to Be Published”) Multi-book contracts keep authors writing certain types of books several years. Consider that by the time you see a particular genre in the store, it’s possible that the publisher acquired it years ago. That means that as far as acquisitions, the publisher may have moved on to a different interest. Another possibility is that the house now has its author in that genre and is not looking to acquire more.

Striking the Balance

In my view, the best way to strike the balance is to read. A lot. If you are hoping to break into a market with set rules, such as genre romance, learn what those rules are and don’t break them. Yes, a select few authors may be able to bend the rules but a new author must write within the genre confines. Period. Once you have read in your selected genre, you will see joy in the challenge of remaining within the genre’s rules while still being fresh and creative. Trade books might offer a bit more flexibility and certainly length, but you still need to read many of the type of trade books you want to write. When you are buying and reading current books, you are naturally studying the market and seeing firsthand the type of book that is successful in the current market. Then write the type of books you enjoy reading. Don’t imitate a famous author. Stick with your own voice, but polish every word so your book’s awesomeness cannot be denied.

What to Do with Your Awesome Book

Once you feel you’ve struck the right balance of market potential and awesome writing, let your agent be your guide. The best agents talk to editors all the time and keep their level of knowledge high by reading industry news and attending business meetings and events. Your agent is able to direct your work to the editors who will give your work serious consideration. We always appreciate writers who work with us to perfect marketable manuscripts.

Your Turn

What other tips can you offer writers hoping to break into the market? What are you doing to break into the market?

This post is in response to an excellent question posed on last week’s blog.

 

 

 

 

Who Gets Paid in Publishing?

October 10, 2011 in Business, Publishing, Steve, Writing with 16 Comments

by Steve Laube

With all the talk about Independent publishing vs. Traditional publishing and the talk about how writers can get rich if they follow a certain plan…I got to thinking. Maybe we should do a quick look at the Economics of Publishing to see if anyone is making off like a bandit. Sorry for you non-numbers people, but it is critical to understand the infrastructure (i.e. the lifeblood) that keeps your ideas in print.

The detective in the movie says “Follow the money,” so we shall. But first a disclaimer. These models are estimates based on years of reading contracts, profit and loss sheets, spreadsheets, and royalty statements. Your mileage may vary.

Follow the Money

Let start with a paperback book that retails for $15.00 and is projected to sell 10,00 copies the first year.

Expenses per book:

Trade Discount $8.25 55.0%
Print cost $1.25   8.3%
Royalty to Author $1.08   7.2%
Marketing/Publicity $1.00   6.7%
Publisher overhead $3.00 20.0%
Total Profit $0.42   2.8%

 

Explanation of each line item

Trade Discount  is the discount given to the retailer/wholesaler: $8.25 (I’m using a 55% discount as the average. This number can fluctuate wildly depending on the account which is buying the book.)

This leaves $6.75 for the publisher to work with. (also known as the Net Receipt)

Print cost: $1.25 (based on the cost to print a ten thousand 240 page books. Includes freight to the warehouse)

Royalty to author: $1.08 (based on a 16% of net royalty rate. On contracts that use a 7.5% or retail royalty this number would be $1.125)

Marketing/Publicity:  $1.00 (a wild guess that varies from book to book and author to author and where the money is spent. But in general conversations the publisher will look at a book’s first year sales projection and plan on $1 per book sold to determine the marketing budget.) This cost also includes any graphics design work for catalogs, advertisements, banner ads, etc.

Publisher overhead: $3.00. This is where they pay for the editorial work (content, copy, and proofreading edits); cover design; typesetting, warehouse, collections, sales team expense, telemarketing, accounting, legal fees, administration, etc.)

Five things to note:

1)      Ebooks only eliminate the print cost. There is still production costs which fall under the publisher overhead section.

2)      There is no mention of the cost of returned inventory for unsold books. I lump that into the Publisher overhead cost

3)      Many independent and maverick writers will be thrilled to read this saying “Whoopie! I can get rich because I not only keep the royalty, I keep the publisher overhead too!” And there is the rub. If the author can generate the sales and is willing to handle the infrastructure, then indie is a distinct possibility. But realize you are going into a business, not a hobby.

4)      Independents must face the fact that there are costs associated with creating a fine product. Nothing gets published for free. Even time costs money.

5)      Before you look at that 20% for the publisher overhead and start railing against the “money-grubbing” evildoers called “publishers,” stop for a moment. Would you say the same thing about a car dealership? (bad example) Or a dry cleaners? Or a bookstore chain called Borders? What about your own business? What about your church (ouch. You mean a church has expenses?).

Bigger Picture

If we create a cost analysis of the above model, except this time do it on the entire print run (multiplying everything by 10,000) we get the following profit and loss projection:

(Paperback book that retails for $15.00 and is projected to sell 10,00 copies the first year.)

Expenses (combined):

Trade Discount $82,500 55.0%
Print cost $12,500   8.3%
Royalty to Author $10,800   7.2%
Marketing/Publicity $10,000   6.7%
Publisher overhead $30,000 20.0%
Total Profit $    420   2.8%

 

Remember that model is for the first printing.

On a second printing there is no longer a cost for the cover design or editorial or typesetting. And even other costs become more efficient. So if a publisher is able to cover their cost on the first printing then they start making money. And the same efficiencies apply if this were an ebook. (And in this scenario, if the author had been given a $10,000 advance they would be getting a new check for an additional $800.)

But wait! Go back to that “Publisher Overhead” thingy again. Who gets paid out of that stash?

Editorial – $5,000 (again, a variable cost but if you consider hiring a high quality content editor like our own Karen Ball, a copy editor, and a proof reader or two, the cost will add up)
Cover Design – $2,500 (variable. I’ve seen cover designs cost $5,000. And if the designer is in-house then the cost is absorbed into general overhead.)
Typesetting – $500 (variable. Freelancers used to charge as much as $8 a page, but desktop publishing destroyed that price structure. But there is still a cost to have this done well. Have you bought an e-book that was formatted wrong? This is the place where those kind of errors can be fixed.)
Sales expense – $1,000 (if the publisher uses a commission based sales company then this number can vary. If it is in-house the cost to travel and manage an account properly is still the responsibility of the publisher.)
Warehouse – $1,500 (a wild guess because it is nearly impossible to do cost account per book against the cost of maintaining an entire warehouse. Usually that total cost is simply divided by the number of books in the warehouse.)
Admin., Legal, Accounting, I.T., Building Maintenance, Corporate Taxes, etc. – $19,500 The money to pay the rest of the infrastructure has to come from somewhere.

If there are any publisher types out there who read this and wish to chime in and verify or correct? Please do so!

 

Bestseller List News – October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011 in Business, News You Can Use, Publishing, Steve with 1 Comment

Some of our authors have recently hit the bestseller lists! Congratulations to all.

Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall hit #22 on the tradepaper fiction New York Times extended bestseller list for August 28st. And is #2 on the ECPA “Multi-Channel” bestseller list for October.

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (Center Street) hit #17 on the hardcover fiction New York Times bestseller list for October 2nd and will be #31 on the extended list for October 9th.

Log Cabin Christmas an omnibus of novellas (Barbour) hit #34 on the tradepaper fiction New York Times extended bestseller list for October 2nd. The collection included our clients Kelly Eileen Hake, Liz Tolsma, and Deb Ullrick.

Still House Pond by Jan Watson (Tyndale) is #10 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.

A Whisper of Peace by Kim Vogel Sawyer (Bethany House) is #15 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.

Double Trouble by Susan May Warren (Tyndale) is #16 on the ECPA Christian Fiction bestseller list for October.


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