Type-A Mom Conference – From Blog to Book: Using Social Media to Land a Book Deal

This is a session near and dear to my heart, because I’ve always wanted to be a published author. From Blog to Book: Using Social Media to Land a Book Deal is being moderated by Heather Solos, with speakers Mary Ann Zoellner, Hollee Temple, Becky Beaupre Gillespie, and Sarah Pelz. Our speakers today have either published books or work in publishing.

Becky and Hollee wrote a book called Good Enough is the New Perfect, which is due out in 2011. Becky used to work as a reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. The two of them had an idea but nothing else, no agent, no editor…just the idea. They didn’t know quite what to do, so they sat down to make a plan. They had friends who had been through the book publishing process, which helped quite a bit. They researched the process, starting by reading How to Publish Your Nonfiction Book.

They started by coming up with a platform and building a brand as coauthors. They became columnists at a national magazine writing about their topic to get an audience. Then they launched a blog to get a bigger audience. Then they buit their proposal from there. They worked in very small chunks, learning the process bit by bit as they went.

Hollee is talking about acquiring an agent. Her husband already had an agent, so they were lucky enough to find an agent on the first try. But she admits that it often takes months and months of querying an agent to find the right one. Check out agentquery.com to help find a literary agent if you’re not lucky enough to know someone.

Don’t be afraid to ask your contacts for help. “If you know anybody…” Everybody needs a foot in the door.

You need a very polished proposal. Theirs was 98 pages long, including the first two chapters. “We may have overdone it.” Proofread and copy edit it to death. You have one shot with an agent. If they reject you, that’s it. It’s not a sprint to publication…it takes a long time.

Sarah is an editor for Harlequin Nonfiction. Their goal is to appeal to the Harlequin readership with informative, entertaining books in another category from their romance. She can talk about nonfiction publishing, which may not be applicable to those of us who write fiction.

What does an editor do? It’s her job to find a book and bring it into a publishing house. Sometimes she works with an agent, sometimes directly with the author. With every proposal she reads, she wonders if she should buy the book for the house. It’s also part of her job to sign with her and not another publishing house. You have to work very closely with your editor. Your editor is always your main point person.

What makes an editor want to buy a book? In nonfiction, it comes down to: will it sell, and will it fit in with our list? The book needs to fit with their demographic. Sarah asks:

• Will this book appeal to the audience?
• Can the author help us reach that audience?
• Does it make sense for the house to publish this book?

Your proposal needs a hook. a distinguishing feature that makes it stand out from all of the other books out there. What’s out there? Is the market oversaturated with other books on this topic? How are similar books selling?

Will readers be compelled to buy the book? Will people spend the money on the book, or can they get the information from a magazine article or a blog post? The book needs to have a clear cut audience, and tone and style matters.

What is a platform? You can be a celebrity, you can have a popular blog, or you can have a vibrant speaking schedule. It’s how you will move books. For us, it will be the power of social media. Social media is a powerful platform.

To make it easier for your editor, give her quantifiable data. How many visitors do you get on your blog? How many Twitter followers do you have?

Sarah’s final thought for us: look at this as a partnership. It’s always a publishing partnership. The publishing house brings a lot to the table, but you as the author know your audience best, and you know how to tap into that. You have to be able to help your publisher sell that book.

It’s Mary Ann’s turn to talk, but she led a round of applause for Sarah. That was some great information. 🙂

Mary Ann wrote Today’s Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby’s First Year along with her partner Alicia. She is a producer for the Today Show. The idea came to her when her friends were all asking her about this really awesome convertible stroller she had. I’m not sure whether or not she’s joking about it turning into a spaceship.

Her biggest hurdle was NBC, because everyone had to sign off on it. There were focus groups involved. Finding an agent with the right fit was tricky for them, although they had no problem getting meetings with agents. (It helps when you’re a TV producer.) Make sure that you find someone who is going to care about you and nurture you as you go through the process.

They ran into a problem where Harper-Collins thought their platform was so huge that their publicist didn’t help out as much as they should gave. So they turned to Twitter and social media. They held a Twitter party in Mary Ann’s living room and gave out free books to spread the word. That helped to build their audience. She condones giving away free books at first.

(For the record, any book links included above are my affiliate links. And that’s okay!)

Get out there and promote as much as you can.

Questions from the audience:

When and how do you find out you’ve been rejected? If you haven’t heard in six months, is that too long? Sarah says that the volume of their submissions is incredible. The easier you can make her job with a great proposal that contains all the info she needs, the better. After six months, she says that it wouldn’t hurt to send a quick email to ask, because things can get lost in the shuffle. Editors will respond to agents before they’ll respond to unknown authors because they have to maintain their relationships. She apologizes on behalf of editors everywhere for the length of time it can take to get to a proposal.

How do you find out the demographics of a publishing house? Check out the acknowledgements in the books they publish. Check out Publishers Marketplace and the publisher’s Web site to find out the market they cater to.

Amy wants to know what to do if the agent you signed with is not terribly helpful. Mary Ann says that, first of all, Amy is an amazing position because she was contacted by the publishing house first. She basically gave the agent easy money, and Amy should remind her that she needs to work for her. Agents are there to work for the authors. Don’t let yourself be intimidated by them. Mary Ann would’ve told Amy to get a lawyer, not an agent, since the publishing house was a lock.

Are there topics that are better for hardcover books as opposed to electronic format? Sarah says that they look for more evergreen books that will backlist well. Publishing is a slow industry, so tech topics can be obsolete by the time a book gets printed. Concept-driven material has a longer shelf life.

Always have your publishing contract reviewed by a lawyer to make sure you’re not getting taken advantage of.

As a first-time author, even if you’ve been writing for a while, you don’t have a lot of leverage. There’s not a lot of negotiation for first-time authors; the terms are usually quite standard.

For children’s books, do not send your own art. Your publisher will match you with the best artist to suit your book.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.