Questions About Going Pro © by Holly Lisle
All Rights Reserved
How do you set up book signings?
It's fairly easy if you want to set up something locally. You
just go into the bookstore dragging copies of some of your titles
(don't assume that the folks in the store will stock your books
or recognize your name -- I have yet to be recognized by a clerk
even when I present my drivers' license. Writers are perennially
incognito.) You find the manager or the person in charge of events
for the store and say, "Hi, I've written these books and I'd like
to see if you'd be interested in scheduling a signing or a reading."
Look your best when you go in, try not to do your Quasimodo impression
or wave knives around, and they'll probably be happy to work with
you.
Important point -- you'll have much less success with this if
your book is self-published. In fact, in most places you'll have
no success at all. Independent bookstores in small towns might give
you a break, while the managers of bigger bookstores are likely
to smile coldly and say 'no, thanks.'
If you're trying to set up something for a trip you're taking,
call directory assistance well in advance of your trip and get the
names of area bookstores. You're going to have to cold-call, and
if you are not among the shameless self-promoters of the world,
you're going to feel awkward. (But don't feel bad. You aren't alone.
I die a thousand deaths every time I have to do this). Follow the
same steps you would do in person, except this time you don't have
to dress up and you can wave knives around if you want.
If your publisher is sending you on tour, you get to go along
for the ride, and you don't have to do anything but show up. I haven't
done a book tour yet.
How do you get invited to conventions?
First, you need to have a book contract with a publisher. Contract
in hand, you can then call up or e-mail the folks who run the conventions
or conferences you'd like to attend and let them know you exist,
and that you'd like to be part of their programming. Once you've
done some programming, you'll discover (if you were nice to the
attendees and didn't make too much of an ass of yourself on the
panels), that you'll be invited back, and invited to other conventions
in other places. Try to line up convention spots fairly early, so
that you can be on the program and so that dealers have time to
get copies of your books in.
When is it time to change publishers?
This is a tough one. In an ideal world, you'd get one great publisher
and stay with him through the life of your career. He'd pay you
better and better money, and you'd write better and better books,
and everything would be beautiful. This not being that world, you
consider a change when you get an offer too good to miss and your
current publisher won't beat it, or when you current publisher stops
buying your books, or when you agent says it's time. Maintain cordial
relations with your old publisher -- if you hit it big with the
new one, maybe he'll keep your backlist up, and you can always consider
him a market for new books in your old series.
Do you write the book first or get the contract first?
Depends. If it's the first one and it's fiction, you'll write
the book first. For non-fiction, the publisher may be willing to
go to contract with a newbie for particularly hot topics, if you
are a recognized expert in your field or if you have breathtaking
connections with some big celebrity. If not, you're going to have
to produce the manuscript on spec (which is short for on speculation
-- meaning you're gambling your own time and money to write the
thing).
Once you've published the first one, things change. You may have
to write one or two more on spec -- if they do well, you may be
offered contracts just on an outline and sample chapters, or just
on an outline, or just on a very hazy concept discussion with the
publisher or editor over lunch in a classy restaraunt. You might
enjoy working to the deadlines that such contracts impose (I do)
or it might drive you nuts and you might discover that you prefer
to write all your books on spec and let your agent submit them when
they're done. Writers go both ways on this, and even writers like
me who get our contracts (and some of our money first) usually have
one or two things we're working on that are strictly speculative.
A publisher has offered to publish my book, and has asked
me to pay some expenses toward publication? Should I do this?
Run away. Shoot him. Or just say no.
Related article: How do I pick a publisher
to publish my book?
Related article: How much
do I pay a publisher to publish my book?
A publisher has offered to buy my book. What do I do now?
Say, "I'm delighted you're interested. I'll have my agent call
you back." Hang up.
Sing in the rain. Dance on your rooftop. Drink champagne with
your significant other.
Then call up the agent you've queried, the one who showed some
interest but wanted some sales first, and say, "Look, the editor
of Major Books just called me up and offered to buy my novel. I
didn't agree to anything -- I said I'd have my agent call back.
Would you represent me in negotiating this contract for your usual
percentage, and consider taking me on as a client if this deal works
out well for both of us?"
You may get an offer from the agent to take you on as a client
right then. Since you will have already checked this agent out and
you will know that he is legit and someone you want to have representing
you (Related article: How do I tell a good
agent from a bad one?), you will say yes. After you hang up
you can dance in the rain and drink champage some more because you
are now an agented writer, and that is a cool and happy thing to
be.
I'm looking at this contract and I have no idea whether it's
a good one or a terrible one. What do I do now?
Call the agent you didn't call when you got the offer, and say,
"Help! Can we work out a deal where you will vette this contract
for me and negotiate out the odious clauses, and where you will
consider taking me on as a client for this and future work?"
Please trust me on this -- publishing is not the field for the
naive beginner to be negotiating his own contracts. There are some
odious clauses floating around out there waiting for poor innocent
lambs to wander too close, and if these inobtrusive little clauses
latch on to you, you can find that you no longer own your subrights,
or your copyright, or your name. Once you start selling, get
an agent.
My editor wants me to make huge changes in the book. What
do I do now?
Take a deep breath.
Now define "huge."
I know of one writer who got peeved that he didn't get to detail
the placement of individual words on the page, and quite a few who
get seriously bent out of shape over commas. I also know a couple
who don't even blink when their editors require complete rewrites,
or even when their editors rewrite them without telling them in
advance. I'm neither as uptight as the former nor as mellow as the
latter. There are things I'll go to bat for -- there would be things
worth losing the sale over, too, though I haven't had to face that
situation yet. If you've caught your breath and you still feel that
the requested changes are excessive, make a list of those you would
be willing to make, those that don't fit with your goals for the
book, and find out if you have some bargaining room. And before
you call your editor back, read this section
on Revision Requests.
My first book disappeared from the shelves after fifteen
minutes and has never been seen since. What do I do now?
Write another one.
You can spend a lot of time and energy promoting the one that
sank, or you can put the same time and energy into writing something
new that may sell better. If you write something that sells well,
its sales may spur sales of your other work. If, however, you flog
your dead horse, it will still be dead when you're done flogging
and you will be discouraged
I realize that this information flies in the face of everything
you've heard from the determined self-promoters. This is my experience,
though, and what seems to be more or less working for me. If you're
experiences are very different and you feel that vigorous self-promotion
has been worth your time, please let me know.
My editor won't return my calls. What do I do now?
Call your agent. See if he knows if something big is going on
with her, if there might be a problem she's having in her life,
if she took off for the Bahamas for a month of rest and relaxation
. . . or if you might be in trouble with your publishing house.
If you find out that you do have a problem, ask yourself whether
you might have caused it. Did you call her to tell her that you
were running way behind on the novel, and that you needed an extension?
Did you trash her the last time you were on the Writers Talk About
Writing panel at the state writing conference? (These sorts of things
get around.)
Is the problem something you can't help? Did you find out that
your novel sold less copies than Bert's Book of Pretty Okay Recipes
for Guys? Is your publisher cutting its lines. Did your editor
change to a different house or a different job?
Take a deep breath. That's what you have an agent for. He'll get
you through this, move you to another house if that's what it takes,
help you smooth ruffled feathers, keep you from sinking yourself.
Don't panic yet.
My agent won't return my calls. What do I do now?
Call a couple of your fellow writers who share the same agent
and see if they've heard anything about your agent and anything
that might be going on in his life. See if they've had any problems
reaching him lately.
Consider, too, that your expectations might be unreasonable. I'm
in contact with my agent once every three or four months when nothing
big is going on. Sometimes less when nothing small is going on either.
While I'm writing a book, if Russ has something to tell me, he calls
me because I'd never be in touch otherwise. On the other hand, when
we're doing an auction or negotiating a contract or something intense,
I sometimes hear from him hourly. If you're not involved in something
that requires your agent's immediate and constant attention and
you're wanting weekly reports, consider that your problem with your
agent might be you.
If it turns out your problem really is with your agent, it's time
to make the hard choices. You can call and leave a message on his
machine offering to work things out. You can fire him and ask your
colleagues for recommendations or referrals, understanding that
you might have a long haul to find another agent.
Finally, remember that your agent works for you. As his employer,
you have a right to be satisfied with the service you're purchasing.
You can handle this. Just don't panic.
My first three books tanked and no one will return
my calls. What do I do now?
Now you can panic. I would.
Then I'd finish the next book, query a couple of agents recommended
by people I trusted, and offer to change my name. You could also
quit at this point, of course -- a lot of people do. But if you
want to write, then write, by God, and you'll get through this,
too. It will make a great convention story a few years down the
road when you're sitting on that panel plugging your latest bestseller
and wowing the newbies with your rugged determination and fierce
courage in the face of hellish setbacks.
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