Joseph Epstein is often quoted for noting that around eighty percent of Americans feel they have a book in them that they should write. A far, far fewer percentage actually end up writing a book. Of those who finish a book, the chances of that book’s success are slim to none. If this sort of self-defeating psychological torture sounds like fun, welcome to the world of wanting to be a writer. To even have a chance at “success” in some measure means taking a stab at determining your book publishing goals. Of course, goals can and should change, but without them is to be directionless.
This year I will be covering dealing with rejection, formatting mistakes to avoid, doing a print run, knowing comp titles, and blogging a book. Feel free to explore Word Bank’s archive of publishing posts. In particular, you might find 5 Reasons to Submit Work to Publications with Editorial Discretion of interest.
Determining Your Book Publishing Goals
There is no right or wrong way to go about publishing a book, but any choice an author arrives at is bound to be a better choice if it’s an informed choice. The sections below provide a viable starting point when it comes to charting one’s writing path–a path that will inevitably change. The writing life is equal parts exhilarating and scary much of the time.
What will your path to publication be?
Given how easy it is to publish a book these days, the numbers of hobbyist and legacy writers has exploded. Making money is generally not a huge motivator if this is a path taken in determining your book publishing goals. People take up countless hobbies that they spend money on, so writing a book or two can work beautifully as a way to pass the time. To leave behind a family legacy for future generations is another motivator that drives many amateur authors to record their family history, pen Grandpa Joe’s biography, or write their own memoirs.
On the other hand, chances are you hope to make some sort of profit from sharing your words with others. Whether you make a living part-time or full-time from writing, an array of publishing models exist. If you’re written a fiction series in a popular genre or the purpose of your book is to help grow your business and act as a calling card that can be handed out in conjunction with speaking engagements or workshop materials, pursuing self-publishing may be the best route. In this model, the author goes it alone and can hire help along the way. Assistance can also be gained in the form of a hybrid or partner-publisher who will work with an author (for a fee) to publish and market their book. This is not to be confused with vanity publishing or subsidy presses, which prey upon authors for financial gain, have no criteria for selection, and do next to nothing to help distribute and promote work.
Perhaps you have a hankering to jump through the hoops of traditional publication. Go you! There’s much to be admired about the desire for one’s work to pass muster by literary gatekeepers (who are also, alas, running a business). Not to mention, working with an established team of professionals can be a worthy experience as well. Aside from the Big 5 publishing houses, a number of small, independent publishers and university presses exist. Advances may likely be small and the amount or marketing assistance will vary, but these publishers can provide far greater distribution and some semblance of a respectable book launch. If you truly believe in your story and want the widest readership possible and are not an impatient person, by all means, go for it.
Who is your target audience?
Don’t even think of proclaiming, “My book is for everyone!” No, it most definitely is not. There is no such thing as a general reader. While you may or may not write with genre in mind, at some point a book is finished and needs to find its place on a real or virtual bookshelf. For marketing purposes, a book will only appear in one section of a store or be placed in the most applicable genre categories at an online retailer. Genre impacts the choice of cover design, trim size, and applicable keywords. Wise marketing and advertising toward your ideal reader will go a long way. Self-publishing affords much more flexibility than the traditional model in this area as books placed in bookstores get limited time to make an impact.
What is your budget?
With enough time and resources, any publication goal is possible. However, the reality of life is we have to pick and choose wisely where we spend our money. Even if you intend to submit for traditional publication, it’s worthwhile to hire an editor for content or copyediting (preferably both). Competition is fierce and in-house editing budgets continue to shrink. Even in the case of hobby publishing, it’s in the writer’s best interest to not let a manuscript loose into the world with a ton of typos and characters of questionable motivation. Beyond hiring professional help to get a book in tip-top shape, funds will be necessary for cover design, formatting, as well as marketing and advertising.
Where will you sell your book?
If visions of book displays at stores across the land are dancing through your head, it will behoove you to pursue traditional publication. Print distribution to bookstores is a tough gig for self-published authors. Far more titles can typically be sold online. If self-publishing, ask yourself if it’s worth the time needed to approach stores to place a few copies on consignment. If you’ve narrowed down your audience enough, this will help determine where to sell your book. If you’ve written a guide to California’s wine country, it makes sense to approach regional stores to take on handfuls of books. If organic cooking or whole foods recipes are your niche, consider setting up a table at farmers’ markets. Invest in advertising and freebies such as bookmarks.
What hybrid considerations make sense?
If your heart is set on traditional publication, it’s possible to consider releasing a short stand-alone title (or titles) or a collection of writing as a way to grow your author platform. However, once you’ve self-published a novel, an agent will no longer be able to redeem the marketing potential of a debut or first-time novelist. On the other hand, self-published titles that rack up thousands of sales do catch the attention of literary agents on occasion. On the other hand, traditionally published authors sometimes self-publish short titles that are not part of their traditional publishing contract.
Determining your book publishing goals just goes to show the choices are many in the early twenty-first century and will continue to evolve. In any case, it’s better to take some form of action than none at all. Adjustments can always be made. But writing is the way to get the writing done!
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What else comes to mind when it comes to determining your book publishing goals?
Please share responsibly. Jeri Walker, 2018. Post may contain affiliate links. Image credit: Ink and Quill.
The first thing that comes to mind is to have a clear idea of what constitutes success. Is it money? Is it sales? Is it having it accepted by a publisher? Maybe it is just completing a book that you are happy with.
Ken, all good points. Over the years, I’ve realized I’m the type of writing who likes to think more about writing than actually getting the writing done. The past year of writing about going through cancer treatments has gone a long way in helping me break some of those habits. It floors me how I can help others finish their books, but have yet to buckle down and finish a novel of my own. Success to me is going to be finally completing a book that sees the light of day! Though I probably will give traditional publishing a try when I do complete a manuscript. My therapist says my life story is a bestseller 😉
Living in Los Angeles, I meet so many people who come here with huge aspirations, and never take the first step forward. Probably out of fear of failure. But I think that if you have a desire, you need to do it. And as you demonstrate, there are lots of options for publishing. So it seems possible to create realistic goals that are achievable if you put in the proper time and focus. And while that doesn’t always mean you can quit your day job, to me, that isn’t the only measure of success.
Erica, I can imagine artist-types with huge aspirations are definitely coming out of the woodwork in LA. I run into writer-dreamers all over the place, and a bit of conversation often reveals those aspirations aren’t too concrete yet. It’s easy to dream, but another matter entirely to put it all into play. Doing one’s homework can really pay off. This blog has served as my “homework” for years. I’m finally figuring out the type of writer I aspire to be, and along the way I started an editing business.
Great tips, Jeri. Knowing your target audience is everything. In my experience, schlepping books to book stores was time consuming but on the other hand, I met some wonderful book store owners and many are willing to support the Indy author. For now, I’ll focus on-line for sales and marketing.
I like your suggestion to promote books at relevant public events. Great idea!
It sure is a complicated business. It used to be a writer was someone who ‘got published’ and simply wrote and then went on a book tour. Now, as an author, even if you’re published with a big 5, you do much of the grunt work on top of the writing itself. It’s been a learning process for me and I have to say I absolutely LOVE it.
Lisa, it’s great to hear you love the learning process with being an author in this day and age. It can be addictive! It’s also good to hear you’re going to focus on online sales for now.
I intend on going with traditional publishing although with one of the smaller companies. I choose this path because I’m am quite aware of how awful I am at marketing. I really do suck at it. Because I’m gearing towards the smaller companies, I’ll be paying for editing before submitting.
Glynis, going with a small publisher can be quite helpful and provide a measure of structure some authors thrive under. I’m likely to give traditional publishing a shot, but feel I’ve also learned enough about self-publishing now that I could do it justice if I ever got serious and actually worked on a book.
Determining our goals is definitely the first step to get started and you have clearly laid down the path Jeri, pebbly it may seem but a determined writer has to go on. Success may not be his goal as you have rightly pointed out, what is significant is the focus. Small publishing companies are doing a wonderful job as they help in marketing too. Some self-published authors have written nice books and are quite successful.
Balroop, due to all the publishing paths that are available, the process can seem more daunthing than ever. Once a writer gets their feet wet, things have a way of falling into play and the best path will make itself known.
Goals are important. When I first published, I did it because I completed a book and wanted to complete the goal by publishing. I didn’t have all of these important aspects in mind. It’s a constant learning process even after publication.
Denise, so much more transpires after a book is published. A writer truly must be a business person in every sense of the word.
This makes total sense, especially the part about knowing your audience. I imagine that a lot of writers think more about what they’re writing than who there writing to, which makes marketing the book that much harder.
Meredith, so many writers cringe when audience analysis is brought up. Thinking of a readership needn’t squelch the process but rather inform it in the best of ways. Marketing, like all else, is a skill that can be learned.
Another excellent post, Jeri. Coming off three days of the Creative Non-fiction conference here in Pittsburgh, I’m whirling with ideas of how to narrow my focus. First step, stop weekly blog promoting. Not the writing part, but the promoting part–two separate things. Second step: study what folks most like to read that I put out into the world.
RoseMary, I’m looking forward to hearing more about the conference. I hope it was grand! Promoting blog posts is a huge time suck. I do it better some weeks than others.
Great post Jeri. I think the biggest surprise for new authors is learning that there is so much work for us which doesn’t involve writing. And realizing we’re in a business when we start taking care of our books with administrative and marketing work. I still find myself muttering, “I didn’t sign up for this.” LOL but we’re sucked into it because the passion for writing overpowers the parts we don’t care for. 🙂 x
DG, your passion for your writing definitely shows 🙂
It’s nice to break goals into imaginable steps. I am mostly agog at how the industry has changed over the last decade. So much of the publishing and marketing chores fall on the backs of writers. Ah well. You do or you don’t!
Julie, it really makes me wonder what the industry will look like in the coming decade considering how much change it’s already gone though.
Excellent post! I remember when I was at the beginning of my journey, I did a bunch of research with my goals in mind. I realized I was a hobbyist because I’d never be able to throw myself full time into writing with the fear of burdening my family. I also knew I wouldn’t take well to the querying process because I don’t have the level of dogged persistence needed. So I went the self-publishing route.
Loni, thank you for sharing your informed decision process.
Those questions definitely help author find out a scheme or plan as far as publishing is concern… Great ideas in order to sort out things and define steps in a more clear and effective way 🙂 Love & best wishes dear Jeri 😀
Aqui, even when it publishing goals seem to be all sorted out, it’s often necessary to resort them again, and again, and again 😉
All good stuff. Some people jump in before analyzing what they want out of the gig. *raises hand* What can you do?
Crystal, I think most endeavors are a mix of diving in and also stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. Little by little, goals become more clear.
This is a great guide for not only creating a book that is more likely to sell but also to learn how to market it when it’s completed. A highly useful post, Jeri.
Thanks, Christy. It might sound cheesy, but knowledge really is power when it comes to success in publishing 🙂