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Two Authors, an Agent, and an Editor: Transitioning into Book Authoring | |
Authors Donna Druchunas and Katherine Poole come from opposite communication
vocations--Donna as a senior technical writer and Katherine as a Professor of
World Religions--to arrive at the same elusive goal: getting published. Advice
for new writers was given from respected book agent Sandra Bond, of Bond Literary
Agency, and her acquisitions editor counterpart at Johnson Books, the equally
respected Stephen Topping.
Donna Druchunas is a writer and designer with a life-long interest in fiberarts. Her work has been published in Family Circle Easy Knitting, Michael's Create! and Knitters magazines. She is currently working on a how-to book on knitted rugs, to be published by Lark Books in Fall 2004. She has found her experience as a technical writer valuable in her transition to writing how-to books. Donna also works part time for Hewlett Packard. Contact her at druchunas@att.net.
Katherine Poole is pursuing a career in writing books about world religions
for the popular press. Katherine Poole is now in the process of publishing a
book based on her doctorate dissertation, "The Heat of Her Orange Robes"
which is a work of literary nonfiction detailing the life story of one of India's
women saints. She spent five years in India learning about the country and its
people. Her goal is to educate Americans about other parts of the world. She
also offers workshops on manuscript preparation for submission and preparing
the query letter, the proposal, and locating agents and publishers. Contact
her at kpoole108@earthlink.net.
Sandra Bond heads her own literary agency in Denver, Bond Literary Agency, which she started in 1998. She has a small but select list of clients, many of whom are first-time authors. They include fiction writers of various genres, nonfiction writers, and one children's picture book writer. One of her fiction author's books, Michael Kun's The Locklear Letters, will be published in June, and she just sold Nederland's own Mark Cohen's self-published book, The Fractal Murders, and his next book to Mysterious Press/Warner Books. Sandra has a passion for fiction. She has lived in NYC and L.A. but is now able to live where she wants, Colorado. Contact the Bond Literary Agency at 303-781-9305, Sbbond@aol.com.
Stephen Topping is editorial director for Johnson Books in Boulder,
Colorado. Johnson Books is an independent, general-interest trade publisher
that specializes in books on natural history, the environment, outdoor recreation,
Western regional history, and American Indian culture. Before coming to Boulder
in 1995, Mr. Topping was an editor for the Orion Books imprint at Crown Publishers,
a division of Random House, Inc. He has worked with such diverse authors as
Ann Zwinger, Gene Amole, Mario Cuomo, and Dennis Rodman. Johnson Books is at
303-998-7581, www.johnsonbooks.com.
The panel agreed that this method of book delivery is not going to take over anytime soon.
Most large publishers require that books be submitted through an agent. An
agent provides valuable knowledge about how to work with publishers and individual
editors and can identify the appropriate editor to submit your work to. This
is very important, because in most cases you are not allowed to resubmit your
work to another editor in the same publishing house once you have been rejected.
Smaller publishing houses do not require you to use an agent. You can contact
them directly.
A good way to find the agent or editor that may be right for you is to check
out the acknowledgements in a similar book.
Fiction should be submitted in its entirety and in final form. The more polished
and well written it is, the greater your chances of success.
Non-fiction ideas should be submitted in proposal form to the publisher. Your
proposal should include the completed first two chapters of your book as a sample.
Obviously, you should include a table of contents and synopsis of your proposed
book.
Royalties are higher for hardcover books. You can expect about 10% of the cover price. If your contract is based on the publisher's net profit, you will receive a higher percentage, possibly 12-14%. Paperback royalties are more in the 7.5% range. Self-promoting your book does not change the royalty percentage you will be paid.
Advances against your book's future earnings average from $0 to $10,000.
When submitting a query letter to an agent, describe your book in one or two
sentences. This may sound very short, but people buy books based on this type
of short description. It is recommended that you send the letter via mail. Do
not send via email unless you know the agent accepts this type of submission.
Make sure that anything you submit is professionally done. Believe it or not, publishers receive handwritten proposals, old-fashioned typewriter written proposals with edits in pencil. and other non-professional submissions. You can be assured that non-professional and unpolished submissions are not even considered. Don't impede yourself from the very start.
I Universe by Dan Pointer
How to get published by Judith Applebaum
The shortest distance between you and the published book by Susan Page
Write the perfect book proposal by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman
Continue writing, but don't give up your day job. Only a small percentage
of writers get published and even a smaller percentage of those people actually
live off of their royalties alone. However, since most of you are writing anyway,
continue to do so and follow some of the advice given by our panel, and perhaps
you will be able to supplement your income doing something you love. If you
are giftedly adroit, perhaps you will be the next Michael Crichton, John Grisham,
Stephen Ambrose, Stephen King... Book publishing is a very subjective business.
One publisher's Pulitzer prize winner is another publisher's circle file candidate.
Be persistent and you may find the publisher/agent that values your work and
his ability to sell it.
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