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Marty Barrack
A commercial publisher, sometimes called a royalty publisher, is the standard way to get published. These houses pay all costs of promotion and distribution. The author pays nothing. The publisher pays the author a royalty, and hopes to recover his money from sales to bookshops. On this page we are talking about commercial, or royalty, publishers, until we get to vanity publishers.
Some authors recommend securing a publishing contract before starting work on a manuscript. To do this, we write to various publishers with a book proposal. The publisher who accepts it gives us a contract that requires us to deliver a completed manuscript of publishable quality of, say, 30,000 words three years from now on a particular subject.
We know the manuscript will be published, and we have the publisher's suggestions on what to include and exclude so it will sell well. The publisher knows his market a lot better than we do, so his suggestions are likely to be helpful.
Securing a publishing contract before starting work on the manuscript works well for established authors. A proven author with a proven ability to deliver a manuscript on time, with a proven body of readers who buy his books, will usually get an advance contract.
The contract is a binding commitment. The publisher schedules resources for us. If he gives us a contract to complete a book by, say, June 2006, he will reserve specific amounts of time in the schedules of an editor, a copy editor, a graphic designer for the cover, etc. If we can't meet our deadline those people are idle. A small Catholic publisher can rarely afford to take that kind of hit, so he will usually press the author to give him whatever is already done and he will try to make a book out of it. Sometimes a tardy author is pushed to send in chapters that he has not completely verified for doctrinal purity, fact-checked, or polished; the result could be major embarrassment.
Since the author has made no commitments, he maintains complete control over his manuscript. He can take as long as he wants, and polish it until every word gleams.
Securing a publishing contract after completing the manuscript works well for new authors. The publisher may not know who the author is, but he can see the finished manuscript, assess its quality and marketability, and knows that it will be available when he schedules his editor, copy editor, graphic designer, etc.
There is always the risk that we will write a book with no market. We accept the risk that we will write to every publisher and that every last one will reject the manuscript. In that case, we may have to use a vanity publisher.
If we think the manuscript is commercially viable, the Marian Catechist Writers Apostolate will recommend you send it to each of the Catholic publishers. You can find a list of Catholic publishers at the Catholic Book Publishers Association. Their publisher list includes many who are faithful to the Magisterium and others that are not. Also be sure to subscribe to online Writers Market. Look at each publisher's description and see which best fit your manuscript.
Some Catholic publishers are not members of the Association. The Marian Catechist Writers Apostolate suggests that an author who wants to find them print out a copy of the CBPA member list, put it in his pocket, go to a large Catholic bookshop, and browse to look for books similar to their own manuscript, or at minimum appeals to a similar audience, and see whether its publisher is on the list. If not, the author can jot down the publisher's name, address, phone, e-mail, whatever's in the book, then go back home and look for his web site or some other way to get his street address.
We start with a query letter. Before sending the query letter, authors should phone the publisher and ask for the name of the Acquisitions Editor. In a mom and pop publishing house, this person will also be the president, web site designer, financial manager, and everything else, but larger publishing houses have larger staffs, and we want to make sure the letter goes to the right person. Nothing screams "clumsy amateur" as loud as mis-addressing the query letter, mis-spelling the acquisitions editor's name, or, if it's a woman, getting the title wrong. Ask. The publisher person who answers the phone will understand and appreciate an author's effort to get it completely right.
As concisely as possible, certainly in no more than two pages, the author writes to the aquisitions editor:
• [1] What his manuscript is about. Try to fit into some some kind of familiar Catholic category.
• [2] Approximate number of words. Microsoft Word will count the words for you, and so will any modern word processor.
• [3] What similar books are already on the market and why this book offers a competitive advantage. This will take some research in a good Catholic bookshop, but is absolutely necessary. The publisher has to put food on his family's table. If the author can't convince an acquisitions editor that there's at least a fair probability that the book will make a profit, he can't request a meeting that will commit the time and effort of several professionals to make a more thorough evaluation.
• [4] What hard evidence exists that this book will sell to the Catholic market. What similar books have already sold well? Has a well known Catholic written a foreword? Is the author's name nationally known among serious Catholics? This too is absolutely necessary.
• [5] The author's credentials. Why would people pay attention to what this person writes? Does the author have a seminary education? Has he written articles that were published by a major Catholic magazine? Is he a member of a religious community? Has he taught the Catholic faith in some recognized Catholic institution? Note that putting up a web site has credibility only if the web site itself is well known and has credibility. Anyone can put up a web site; the key to credibility is convincing reputable Catholics such as magazine editors that a person has credibility.
• [6] Tell the publisher that if he asks for a copy of the manuscript, it will be an exclusive submission.
There are two kinds of submission: exclusive and simultaneous.
An exclusive submission goes only to that publisher. At the time he receives the query letter and for maybe 30 days afterward, he knows that no other publisher is looking at it. Sending your manuscript as an exclusive submission is more attractive to a publisher because he knows that if he wants it he can have it. Every publisher has had the experience of falling in love with a "simultaneous submission" manuscript, carefully doing a marketing and cost analysis, and excitedly telling the author that he would like to publish it, only to find that the author signed with another publisher two days earlier. It takes longer with exclusive submissions, but it increases the probability that your manuscript will eventually be published. Also, with each exclusive submission we can see the publisher's response and decide whether to fine-tune the query letter before sending it to the next publisher.
A simultaneous submission is sent to many publishers at once. The idea is that the author is shooting for a contract within the next 30 days or so. The author hopes that his manuscript is attractive enough to cause the publisher to quickly offer a contract before another publisher does. My sense is that the opposite occurs, that most publishers will be less interested in a simultaneous submission because they can go through the whole evaluation process, get all excited about the book, and then suddenly find that the author has signed with another publisher. Since they don't want that to happen, and they have a big pile of other manuscripts waiting to be read, they will concentrate more on the exclusive submissions. Another disadvantage of simultaneous submissions is that all the publishers see our first query letter. We don't get an opportunity to fine-tune it as we observe how each publisher responds.
Even after you have done your homework well, most of the publishers you query will not ask you send the manuscript. Every publisher is swamped with manuscripts. If these early responses suggest that the publisher misunderstood you, correct or fine-tune your query letter before sending it out to everyone else.
Eventually, a publisher will ask for the manuscript. If a publisher does want to see the manuscript, he will probably include in his request how he wants it sent. Does he prefer a Word file or some other format? Does he prefer it on a mailed CD-ROM, or a mailed floppy, or an e-mail attachment? Does he also want a printed copy? If so, with what margins? With any particular typeface or type size? Sometimes the publisher has his preferences posted on his web site. If not, we call up the acquisitions editor and ask.
We follow the publisher's instructions to the letter. Publishers want to work with authors who are precise and responsive. If the publisher wants a printed copy, we print it on good paper stock with a high brightness rating. It doesn't have to be super-expensive fancy stuff, but it should look sharp. We also enclose a CD-ROM or floppy disk with the complete manuscript on it as the publisher requests.
Microsoft Word, of course, is the standard. For an author who aspires to professional status, the current version of Microsoft Word is a necessary tool of trade. Virtually every publisher has a copy of Microsoft Word or can convert Word files to his preferred format. Many publishers like to work directly in a page layout program such as Quark Xpress, Adobe Indesign, Pagemaker, or Framemaker, or Corel Ventura. All can easily import Microsoft Word files. Some can also import WordPerfect or other files. Authors who are not using a recent version of Microsoft Word should check with the acquisitions editor to be sure the publisher's page layout software is consistent with what they plan to send.
Some new authors ask whether they should pay to have a publisher read a manuscript. If a publisher is evaluating the manuscript for publication, the manuscript represents a business opportunity for the publisher. In ordinary circumstances, authors do not pay publishers for anything except the purchase of books.
However, an author who is an expert in his field but not a particularly skillful author will often pay someone who has real writing skills to edit his manuscript so that it becomes commercially viable. That is time-consuming and intensive work for the editor, who is usually paid in the range of a thousand dollars depending on length and how much work needs to be done.
I'm happy to look at a manuscript and make a few general recommendations for Marian Catechists because it does not take that much time. Sometimes I'll ask one of the editors who work with MCWA from time to time to look at a manuscript.
However, hiring me to edit your manuscript can be expensive, and I can't guarantee that a publisher will accept the product. Each manuscript is different. Send me an e-mail.
There are a few large Catholic publishers such as Our Sunday Visitor, Tan Books, and Ignatius. Catholic publishers, however, are more often mom and pop operations. Most of them publish books to serve Christ and eke out a frugal living, but they can only publish only books they are fairly confident they can sell. Sometimes a publisher will fall in love with a manuscript and sense that it is his responsibility as a servant of Christ to publish it and simply market it the best he can.
Most publishers evaluate a manuscript this way: an editor finds a manuscript that he loves and believes is marketable. He convenes a meeting with the owner, the marketing person and the production person. The marketing person estimates the number of copies he can sell and the price he can get for them. Say he expects to sell 5,000 copies at $20 each. That will generate $100,000 at retail, but with the usual 40 percent trade discount to bookshops the publisher will only see $60,000. The production person estimates that copy editing, printing, binding, shipping and storage would cost $55,000. The owner observes that they will be publishing only four books that year, and $5,000 from each book is not enough annual income to cover their four salaries. That one will probably be turned down, unless the publisher is passionately in love with the manuscript.
Costs of production can be estimated quite accurately. However, marketing estimates are rarely more than educated guesses. The publishing world has endless stories of books that people expected to sell well but crashed and burned, and others where low selling expectations were completely bowled over by terrific sales. A personal example: When the "For Dummies" books first came out I predicted a rapid death for them. Who would be willing in public to buy a bright yellow book "for dummies." Who would be willing to have on his bookshelf a bright yellow book "for dummies." Today the bright yellow books generate millions of dollars in sales, and there is also a "for idiots" series that sells very well.
Publishers will only do a book if they expect to earn a profit on it. However, industrywide, five of every six books lose money. The sixth book generates enough revenue to carry the other five. Publishers never know which book will be the sixth, but they pray a lot.
Most publishers reply in writing. If the letter with the publisher's return address is thin, we probably have plenty of time to open it. However, if it has a more stuffed appearance, we drop everything else and open it right away; there may be a contract in it. Most publishers are open to at least some negotiation.
What if we really tried to find a publisher, and couldn't? Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., has a page, Subsidy and Vanity Publishers, that has a lot of useful information. Note particularly the pitfalls. Many vanity and subsidy publishers try to come up with imaginative descriptions for their services that try to conceal what they really are, such as print-on-demand, but the bottom line is simple: pay-to-publish. If you have to give them money, they are some form of pay-to-publish house.
Some vanity and subsidy publishers are honest, others are not. Before dealing with one, I’d call the Better Business Bureau in the publisher’s city and ask whether they have received any complaints.
An author who believes his manuscript is marketable and has tried every Catholic publisher out there but can't get one to offer a contract can always try a vanity publisher. The author pays the vanity publisher to publish the book. The old line vanity publishers who charged a whopping amount to print a hundred or a thousand books that would then mostly sit in the author's garage until the burning summer heat turned their pages brown are in decline. Vanity, subsidy, and self publishers such as Authorhouse, iUniverse, Lulu, Vantage, etc., use newer technology that let's them print one book at a time, so they can charge the author appreciably less.
Some time ago I tested iUniverse by ordering a book from them online. The price was relatively high, because the company does not expect very many sales. The company sells the author on having it publish his book by charging him a slightly lower price, but then recovers part of its cost through higher cost to buyers. This of course depresses sales, but from the publisher's point of view is better than not having the author sign with them at all. In addition, when I placed the order I got a message, “Your book will printed in 7 to 10 days.” Before signing with a vanity publisher, order several books from them to see their quality, and to see how their distribution system would work for your book.
The author pays the vanity publisher to publish the book, but that does not include any advertising or promotion. Even if a vanity publisher offered to promote the book for a fee, I would not touch it. They don't know the specialized area of faithful Catholic publishing, and probably could not tell the difference between an orthodox Catholic magazine whose readers might be inclined to buy a Marian Catechist's book, and a heterodox Catholic magazine whose readers would, alas, see such a book as coming from the enemy camp and refuse even to consider it.
There is another problem with vanity publishing. Bookshops generally do not stock vanity-published books. The bookshops know that, if the author resorted to vanity publishing, he probably peddled the book to every regular commercial publisher in town and got rejected. And if it was the unanimous judgment of the publishing industry that this was not a very good book, bookshops figure it won't sell.
Most magazine and newspaper publishers see it the same way. If the publishing industry unanimously rejected the book, they are not likely to publish reviews. In our orthodox Catholic community there are sometimes exceptions, but they are hard to come by.
Authors promote vanity published book sales by buying advertisements for them in the major Catholic magazines and newspapers. As part of the planning process, before signing a vanity publishing contract, authors should contact the major Catholic magazines and newspapers. Ask them, (1) their paid circulation, and (2) their charges for an eighth-of-a-page, quarter-page, half-page and full page ads. Ask about volume discounts. Some vanity authors imagine that one ad will get everyone talking about their book and that sales will continue at a higher level for an appreciable length of time. Reality is that even a very well written ad will spike sales for a week or two, after which they will fairly rapidly sink back to where they had been. A vanity author who seriously wants to promote his book has to think of advertising it every month for the length of time he wants to drive sales.
Subsidy publishing is similar to vanity publishing, except that the subsidy publisher contributes part of the cost of production and distribution, hoping to make a profit on sales. Subsidy houses charge for their design, printing, and distribution services, and still claim various rights to the book. It’s okay to use a subsidy publisher provided the author understands the arrangement from the beginning.
However, some subsidy publishers market themselves as commercial publishers. Then, well into the submission process, aware that they are dealing with inexperienced and excited authors, they suddenly say that they can’t risk a traditional royalty contract for someone who hasn’t yet published anything, but they would be willing to split the costs and profits of the book. If someone does that to you, tell them thanks, but no. If they try to take advantage of an inexperienced author before the book is even published, what will they do later?
Self publishing is different from subsidy publishing. In true self-publishing, the author pays all costs of preparing the manuscript, printing, distribution, etc. However, the author retains complete control over the process. For that reason, self publishing has a better reputation than vanity and subsidy publishing. However, self-publishing still represents only the author’s opinion that the work of of publication quality. Commercial publishing has a much higher reputation because an objective third party who reads many manuscripts has enough confidence in this manuscript to put his own money behind it.
What if vanity, subsidy, or self publishing is not an option?
Your final alternative is to ask me to put your work up here on the Marian Catechist web site. You get no money, but visitors to the site have an opportunity to read your work. If your work looks good to me, I'll put it up. If we agree on this, please include a small digital photo of yourself in GIF or JPEG format, and also a copyright statement like the ones Carole Breslin and Kathryn Mulderink have. It’s your intellectual property; you can authorize or restrict distribution as you wish.
Marian Catechists who have any other questions, please e-mail me.
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