Most authors don’t realize there is an amazing learning curve in the publishing world. Authors often believe that the hardest part of their job is writing a book and finding a publisher. Although those are surmountable tasks, getting a book to the publisher is only just the beginning. Beyond the original need to write, organize and submit book proposals to various audiences (publishers, agents, and book designers to name a few) there is also extensive marketing to be done once the book is published. Most authors don’t know that publishers do little or no marketing for the authors they publish.
At the She Speaks speakers’ and writers’ conference held in North Carolina in July 2009, one of the most frequently asked questions by potential authors was, “Who does the publicity for my book after it is published, the publisher or the agent?” Many were surprised to hear that neither publisher nor agent provide publicity; instead, publicity is a task that falls squarely on shoulders of all but the most successful authors. At the end of one breakout session a participant questioned an agent who had been the presenter. “What if,” she asked, “all I want to do is write? I don’t want to market, to do publicity, to network. I just want to write.” The agent’s response: “I don’t care. I will only sign authors who want to work, to sell themselves, to sell their work. If that isn’t you, you have no business writing.”
Those are harsh words for an author to hear. That gap between writing a best seller and having a best selling book is where I come in. I complete the tasks that people who “only want to write” could never see themselves doing.
