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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » book proposals » Page 6

book proposals

Is Your Writing Controlled by Fate?

By Dan Balowon February 21, 2017
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I was going to title this blog post something along the lines of “Calvinist vs. Arminian Authors,” or “Predestination vs. Free Will in Publishing,” but these titles inferred an entirely different angle than I intended.

Every author believes their book, if published and promoted enough has the potential to sell well.

No author writes a book feeling deeply it will sell 349 copies. Someone messed up to yield this result.

On the other hand, publishers will look at a proposal and based on their experience with similar books, will determine a range of sales they believe the book will attain and apply an appropriate level of effort and money to support the “predestined” range.

When publishers look through their filtered looking glasses, they see book proposals this way:

More people buy books affecting the heart than the head. Fewer people buy and read deeply intellectual explorations of human behavior than romance novels.

More people buy daily devotional books than Bible commentaries.

More people buy books to help them grow spiritually rather than witness to and disciple others.

More people buy books to help feel better about themselves than worse about themselves, even if feeling worse will lead them to feeling better long term. (Personally, I’d rather have a vanilla shake than cough medicine)

People buy emotional more than rational and intellectual arguments for anything.

People would rather buy a book which promises something positive and relatively simple to grasp and easy to accomplish. Pure illumination only goes so far.

In addition, regarding marketing of books, here is what I have found:

Marketing alone is not the causal factor for good or poor book sales.

Well-executed marketing is highly effective for a book, which is already selling well. Rarely will good marketing transform a book not selling well into a bestseller.

No one knows for sure how a book will sell, but marketing people know the most effective marketing accelerates a process already underway, like shoving a rock downhill faster. Pushing rocks uphill never pays off. Even rocks on flat ground will not continue to roll when the pushing stops.

The media will always find the time to interview an author whose book is selling well.

Almost every mega-selling series debut or standalone title of the last several decades was a complete surprise to the publisher. Sure, they planned on selling 100,000 copies, which was pretty good, but five million? Never.

For every title, which unexpectedly sold five million, there are multiple books expected to sell a large amount, but despite a solid marketing plan sold a fraction of the budgeted number, resulting in substantial financial losses for the publisher.

A primary concept behind all book marketing is to get a book to a place where its reputation takes over and creates its own long-term sales momentum through word of mouth and other organic “free” marketing.

So, are book sales predestined or influenced by good marketing?

Yes.

It’s both. Just like human behavior and personality is a mix of heredity and environment, nature and nurture. Some books have built-in limits and no matter how hard they are promoted and pushed, once they reach some level of sales, they slow down or stop selling altogether.

Publishing is still highly subjective and relatively immune to making it purely a scientific pursuit. So, go ahead and write what you want, but at some point come to realize what you write has some limits, sometimes dictated by the marketplace which is highly competitive with many authors vying for the same reader as you.

More often than not, there is nothing much you can do about it.

 

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Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, MarketingTag: Book Business, book proposals

What is Your Attention Span?

By Steve Laubeon February 13, 2017
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I came across the study that claims the average person now has a shorter attention span than that of a goldfish. Eight seconds. This means most people tend to lose concentration in less than ten seconds. As an experiment, I read the above paragraph out loud. It took about 10 seconds to complete. That means I just lost you. At least the goldfish will swim around its bowl and come back to the same …

Read moreWhat is Your Attention Span?
Category: Communication, Craft, Inspiration, Reading, The Writing LifeTag: book proposals, Creativity, Writing Craft

A Roundup of Some Queries

By Steve Laubeon January 23, 2017
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Periodically we try to show you some of the more unusual things we receive, unsolicited, by our agency. These are by no means all of them (not exhaustive…just exhausting). Just a few to help those who read this blog avoid the same mistakes. Disclaimer: We do not suggest that any of these writers are insincere. In fact it is evident they believe in what they are presenting. But at the same …

Read moreA Roundup of Some Queries
Category: Book ProposalsTag: book proposals, Query Letters

Should an Author Query by Phone?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 12, 2017
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Recently I was asked by an author (not a client) if I could spend “ten minutes” talking on the phone about a book before I see the submission. I prefer to see the work first. Some questions may enter the author’s mind in response to that. Here are my answers. What’s the matter, are you too “busy” or snobby to talk to authors? No, I am not. In fact, I believe most people find time to do what they …

Read moreShould an Author Query by Phone?
Category: Book Proposals, Get Published, Pitch, Pitching, The Writing LifeTag: Agents, book proposals, pitch

We Care, But We Must Choose

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 8, 2016
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If you go through my trash, you might think I’m the world’s worst person. Why? Because my discarded mail might lead a casual observer to think that I don’t care about: The paralyzed. The blind. Amputees. Orphans. Israelites. Health needs overseas. Impoverished people living overseas. People suffering with: Lupus Muscular Dystrophy AIDS Multiple Sclerosis Emphysema Diabetes Heart disease. Cancer …

Read moreWe Care, But We Must Choose
Category: Agents, Book ProposalsTag: Agents, book proposals

The Send…A Proposal’s Weakest Link

By Dan Balowon December 6, 2016
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You spend hundreds and hundreds of hours writing and re-writing your book. You work meticulously to craft a proposal for an agent or publisher. You talk to your friends about the big step you are about to take, the step of sending your proposal out. The power of email will carry your message to the world. Then you copy 135 names into the email address field, use a generic greeting and send it out …

Read moreThe Send…A Proposal’s Weakest Link
Category: Book Proposals, Get PublishedTag: book proposals, Get Published

How Long Should You Wait for an Answer?

By Steve Laubeon October 31, 2016
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You have sent your project to an editor or an agent. Their guidelines state “We will respond within 6-8 weeks.” Do you mark your calendar on day 56 and send that person a query the minute the deadline passed? This past week one of my clients set a personal record for waiting. She was contacted by a magazine asking to publish a poem she submitted…in 1990. You read that right. …

Read moreHow Long Should You Wait for an Answer?
Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Pitching, The Writing LifeTag: Agents, book proposals

Two Types of Nonfiction Books: Which Are You Writing?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 22, 2016
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Broad Appeal I receive a number of emails each day advertising new books and older books being released as ebooks. Recently one notice contained summaries of several titles in a series. I thought the book on three views regarding remarriage after divorce sounded interesting. As faithful blog readers, you may gasp, “Is Tamela getting divorced?” The answer is a resounding, “No!” I credit my long …

Read moreTwo Types of Nonfiction Books: Which Are You Writing?
Category: Book Proposals, Branding, Marketing, PlatformTag: book proposals, Niche Books, Non-Fiction

The Proposal Review Process

By Karen Ballon August 17, 2016
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You’ve all been there (and if you haven’t yet, you will…). You put together the perfect proposal and finally, finally send it off to agents for their review. So what happens next? Well, from your point of view, waiting. And waiting. And…(yes, we’ve covered that before. The waiting. That’s not what this is about.) But how about from the agent’s point of view? What on earth are they doing all that …

Read moreThe Proposal Review Process
Category: Agency, Book Proposals, Get PublishedTag: Agency, book proposals, Process

The Best Time to Submit to an Agent

By Karen Ballon August 3, 2016
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Thanks to Katie Powner for her question on my May 25, 2016 blog, which sparked this blog. There have been many changes in publishing over the last few years. In fact, it seems we just get used to some element of publishing, and wham! It’s turned on its head. But there is something that hasn’t changed. Something I don’t think will ever change. At least, I pray it won’t. Story trumps all. Oh, I …

Read moreThe Best Time to Submit to an Agent
Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Get PublishedTag: Agents, book proposals, Get Published, story
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