Chip MacGregor .com

A Lesson in Self-Publishing

A couple of folks have asked if I'd offer some thoughts on how to self-publish successfully, since we were recently chatting on this blog about self-publishing options. If you go to Lightning Source, the setup for the book is $35, plus another $35 for the cover. You also pay another $35 for the ISBN number. They'll send you a cover template (complete with barcode, which you MUST have if you're going to sell it in any store). You'll pay about $3 each for the ink/paper/binding of a 200 page book, or $4.50 for a 300 page novel, plus an extra $1 apiece for the cover. You can order as few as you want, but you'll discover there are discounts starting at 50 copies. Then you'll have a shipping charge added to that. They're fast, and will get you your books in about two to three weeks. So... your total per book cost is going to be roughly $6 per book, give or take how many pages it is, how many copies you get, and what all you do with the cover. 

You know why most self-pubbed are looked down upon? Because they are badly written, poorly edited, and have lousy covers. (Wait -- before you self-pubbed types write to tell me how wonderful your book is, you should know that I've done this a long time. I've self-pubbed my own books. I've been involved with dozens of self-published titles. And I've been in the industry for a couple decades. Believe me, I can recognize crappy writing, editing, and design -- and most self-pubbed titles have all three. Yours may be the exception, but that's the common impression people hold of self-pubbed books, and they hold it for a reason.) So keep this in mind: There are a lot of good people working in publishing, and if they all say the book isn't that good... well, they may be right. So don't parade your arrogance around by publishing another lousy book. 

So what can you do to make your self-pubbed book better? First, do your research. If you don't know anything about the process, talk to some people who have successfully self-published. Second, hand it over to a professional editor. That might change your book cost by dollar or two per copy, but it's worth it. A second set of eyes will catch things you've missed because you're too close to it. Be wary of paying an editing fee to a vanity press, who may or may not have quality editors on staff. With very little work,you can locate a good editor to assist you with your book. Third, invest a couple hundred bucks with an artist who can create a nice-looking, salable cover. Again, this will drive your price up. But you'll never sell a book with a bad cover. (In fact, I've seen pretty good books fail because of horrid covers.) Fourth, before you hand over your print file, hire a copyeditor to do one last check. Yes, that's another expense... but having that third set of eyes will simply make your book look much more professional. Fifth (and perhaps most important), have a plan in place to market your book BEFORE it releases. Most self-publishing authors fail because they can produce the book, but then don't know how to sell the actual copies. 

I've self-published several books successfully. I did hardcover nonfiction books, had a lot of editing done, paid an artist for the cover, and had a plan in place. Those books cost me about $8 each. They were a specialty item (books of card tricks for magicians), so they had a high retail price tag -- $40. That worked great for me, but I knew exactly how to sell books of cards tricks. I knew which magazines card magicians subscribed to, knew how to get them reviewed in magic magazines, knew how to get the books to magic conventions, and knew who my audience was and how to reach them. I also knew their language -- what they wanted in a book of card tricks. So I had a plan for selling the books. I've helped other people do trade-size paperbacks. Those cost about $6 each, and they normally sold for $10-$12, so the author was making more on his self-published books than if he had sold the book to a traditional publisher and received a royalty. BUT HE HAD AN AVENUE FOR SELLING THEM. The issue for most self-published authors is that they think through how to get the books, but not how to sell them. If you don't have a platform, if you don't know who and where your audience is, and if you don't have a written plan to reach them, you're probably just publishing a book out of vanity. 

Think about this: Some of the self-publishing ventures you'll discover will charge you as much as $100 per book. They'll try to get you to sign on with their marketing efforts (generally for a very large fee). They may or may not deliver on their promise. Think of it as building a house -- you can pay a big fee to a general contractor to have it done for you, or you can do much of the work yourself and get it done for less money. I'm not saying the self-publishing companies are unfair -- they're just trying to make a profit. But be aware that you can probably accomplish the same thing for far less money. 

Two other notes: First, there is, in my opinion, almost ZERO market for self-published novelists. No matter how much time you spend improving your manuscript, people don't want to buy a novel unless it comes from a legit source. You have to hand-sell every copy. If you've got a big group of friends, and you're satisfied you can make this work, have at it. But be aware that you're not going to make any money. Second, my friend and fellow literary agent Rachelle Gardner put it very well when she noted recently, "Understand that self-publishing is an alternative to regular, royalty-paying commercial publishing, not a stepping stone to it." She said it perfectly. I don't believe that your self-pubbed book will get you a publishing contract with Random House or Harper Collins. Just so you know. 

Let me close with something you'll appreciate... A couple years ago, some folks decided to try and find the worst self-published book on the market. I was sent a copy of the winner, just for a laugh. The title: How to Good-bye Depression. The subtitle (and I swear I'm not making this up), is: If you constrict anus 100 times everyday. Malarky? or Effective Way? 

With a guaranteed winner subtitle like that, I'm sure you'll agree this must be one life-changing book. The author is Mr. Hiroyuki Nishigaki. His chapter titles include: Turn to bay throwing away pride, Save sex energy and rotate vortex, erase your bad stickiness and multiply various good feeling, and of course the immortal Stare, shoot out immaterial fiber, ucceed in concentrating, behave with abandon-largess-humour and beckon the spirit (I double-checked to make sure I had that one correct, complete with the word "ucceed"). 

There's obviously much to think about here. Rotating your vortex is no doubt a good thing. I've long been an outspoken vortex-rotator, as my friends can attest. And I'm all for erasing your bad stickiness -- a topic that just doesn't get enough mention these days. I'm not as sold on shooting out immaterial fiber, but I may not be as far along in the process as Mr. Nishigaki. Still, you've got to admit the whole idea offers many helpful benefits. As he says in his back cover copy, "I think constricting anus 100 times and denting navel 100 times in succession everyday is effective to goodbye depression and take back youth. You can do so at boring meeting or in a subway. I have known 70-year-old man who has practiced it for 20 years... His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness and joy. Furthermore, he can make * * three times in succession." The copy goes on to mention that this man has burned out his stickiness and is busy shooting out his immaterial fiber, so it MUST work. As the author puts it, "If you don't know that... your life looks like hell." 

Just think of the promise offered there. If you're facing a boring meeting this week, you may want to order a copy...

http://www.amazon.com/How-Good-bye-Depression-Constrict-Everyday/dp/0595094724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259546539&sr=1-1

Rants and Raves

Rave: I just got back from our first-even "Fiction Marketing Seminar." We held it in Dallas with a half-dozen novelists, and we had a GREAT time. Everyone found it helpful, and our brainstorming with authors about how they can help promote their own novels more effectively was the highlight of the weekend. Thanks for participating everyone! (And if you're interested in attending, we're doing the Fiction Marketing Seminar again in Indy in just a couple weeks -- December 4-5.) 

Rant: You know, that last blog post of mine was awful. I was busy at the conference, looked at my emails late at night, and decided to simply re-post something I'd written recently. In retrospect, that was a bad decision. Michael Hyatt, the President of Thomas Nelson, had written a blog post about "why agents may be opposed to self-publishing," and I wanted to quickly get something up in response. In doing so, I failed to adequately touch on his points. Worse, my words suggested Mike was purposefully not telling the truth about the way his business is run. That's a huge disservice to Mike, a man I like and respect. Nor did it really add anything to the conversation. So... Mike, I apologize for that. I was wrong. The next time I'm in Nashville, I'll buy you a fish taco. 

Rave: Mr. Hyatt spent a lot of time responding to comments on his blog, http://michaelhyatt.com , and I recommend you read not only his blog but the discussion in the "comments" section. There are good points made from all sides. It's worth a look. I'm not enthusiastic at the way literary agents are referenced in this particular post, but Thomas Nelson has a track record of working with agents, so I'm taking Mike's notes in the comments section to heart. 

Rant: Just so we're clear, this particular agent isn't opposed to self-publishing. (In fact, I've self-published books.) I didn't much like the image Mike used at the top of his blog (a bunch of supposed agents pointing fingers and screaming), but I don't really care if Thomas Nelson gets into the self-pubbing business or not. I think the industry is changing, and we're going to see more of these types of difficult decisions. I'm still of the opinion that (1) most self-publishing exist to take money from uninformed wannabe writers, (2) as a novelist it is EXTREMELY rare to find any success at all with a self-pubbed book, so therefore (3) the people who will have success with a self-published book are nonfiction writers with a mechanism for selling their books.

Rave: I'd also like to point people to Rachelle Gardner's excellent blog, http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/, where she spoke to the issue with a lot of passion. I think she said it best when she noted that self-publishing "is an alternative to regular, royalty-paying, commercial publishing, not a stepping stone to it." Good stuff, Rachelle! 

Rant: I have now heard from more than 100 Ted Dekker fans, who have convinced me that I'm wrong -- there are PLENTY of readers who found deep spiritual truths in his novels. Okay, I was wrong. I should have kept in mind that one diner likes chocolate, another vanilla. My bad. (For those not in the know, this got started when bestselling novelist Ted Dekker blogged about a list of words he'd discovered on a publisher's website that were not to be used by Christian romance writers.) AND I need to add that there were certainly a couple words on that list Ted mentioned that did, in fact, concern me... "priest," for one. 

Rave: I had a great conversation with Ted Dekker about all this, and he was very gracious. He has taken steps to try and let people know he wasn't trying to demean all romantic novelists. The two of us decided that we are still friends, and still don't want a Celebrity Death Match (which is a good thing, since Ted is younger than me). 

Rant: Now Harlequin is jumping into the self-publishing game. They made a big, splashy announcement about "Harlequin Horizons," which is a new vanity press they set up for those who want to do their own romance novels. Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America immediately called them out, since the marketing language certainly makes it seem as though an author paying for the privilege of self-publishing a book with that imprint is given the impression that they are part of the Harlequin family, and therefore a Harlequin author (specifically, they referred to this as a "gateway for aspiring authors"). Again, I don't care if a publisher wants to try new ideas in order to make extra income in a lousy economy. But they have to be careful to not over-promise. There's no way Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Books-a-Million starts stocking self-published books. Perhaps Harlequin, like Thomas Nelson, promises they're going to be reviewing the self-pubbed titles for possible publication down the road. But be aware, fiction writers... it is a rare thing indeed to self-publish your novel and have anyone buy it. 

Rave: This has nothing to do with publishing, but for the first time in my life (and I'm 51) the Oregon Ducks will play the Oregon State Beavers for the Pac 10 Championship and the right to go to the Rose Bowl. Life is sweet here in Oregon. And... GO DUCKS!

Responding to Self Publishing

Last month I talked about self-publishing, and today Mike Hyatt, the President of Thomas Nelson, asked, "Why are agents so opposed to self-publishing?" As an agent, who really isn't opposed at all to self-pubbing, I thought it was worth a revisit to my post. If you want to read Mike's original blog, you can go here:  http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/10/should-you-consider-self-publishing.html and here  www.news.thomasnelson.com  

If you want to read his latest musings, you can go here: www.michaelhyatt.com. And let me point out that I'm a big fan of Mike Hyatt -- a good guy, whom I respect, and who also likes fish tacos. Here's the post from last month:

Some people are angry, thinking Nelson is profiteering... but my feeling is, "They're a business. OF COURSE they're profiteering." I mean, I'm in business to make a profit. That's what a business does! The team at Nelson has simply noticed the abundance of wannabe writers out there, and decided to create an option for them to get into print. Nothing wrong with that. The industry is changing rapidly, and we're all trying to figure out how to make a living in the new economy. If Nelson wants to start a self-pub unit, it's not much different than if they started a "plush toys" unit or a "TV movie" division. That said, I do think there are some issues to think through.

First, there's no getting around the fact that the Thomas Nelson name has huge cache. So there's the potential for offering a bit of a "come on." I think that's what has upset people -- the notion that the team at Nelson is saying, "Self-pubbing with WestBow is sort of like publishing your book with Thomas Nelson." And that's just not true. 

When the president of the company, Michael Hyatt, blogged about it, he alluded to this when he stated self-pubbing "provides us with a kind of 'farm team.'" Um... Mike... please. I respect you very much, and I've publicly sung your praises, but that looks like you're letting the marketing guys create your copy for you. You're already publishing 500 titles per year, and these books weren't good enough to make your list. Sure, if somebody self-publishes and sells 10,000 copies, you might sit up and pay attention to them -- but so will everyone else. A "farm team" implies that your editorial and marketing people will be investing in these authors, shaping them for a brighter publishing future. And, in my humble opinion, that won't be happening. 

(A side note: Mike also mentioned that authors wanted to self-pub "without getting ripped off." Uh... ripped off by who? Haven't the majority of the complaints been aimed at iUniverse and XLibris and Author House? Nelson has announced they're doing this in a partnership with ASI, who, um, owns iUniverse and XLibris and Author House. So if you're concerned authors are getting ripped off, it's by the very company you're partnering with. But I'm not trying to cast aspersions. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of problems with Author House, for example. And I know Michael Hyatt -- he's a good man, who's just trying to make his company successful.)

Second, the Nelson group must understand that some folks are afraid of the huge potential to scam people -- having some editor say, "We're not interested in publishing your book through our regular publishing company... but have you considered self-publishing with us?" No, I don't expect that will happen. But do you know that's exactly why members of the Association of Author Representatives aren't allowed to have their own editing services or publishing companies? There's too much temptation to look at every bad manuscript that passes an agent's desk and say, "This isn't ready... but for $500, I have an editor who could really get this in shape." A successful agent would have a bonanza -- EVERY crappy manuscript would have the potential to earn the agent money. (And there are several literary agents who do this -- running an editorial service or offering "proposal consulting." They'd be drummed out of the AAR for that reason. Stay away from them.) 

Third, the folks at Nelson probably wish they hadn't decided to use the name WestBow. They used it for expediency (Thomas Nelson already owned it; WestBow was the name of their fiction program a few years back), but that creates real issues... Can a WestBow author now say, "I'm published by the same imprint that publishes TED DEKKER"? Yeah, they can. (And yes, the WestBow authors are livid about this.) My guess is that they'll change this. 

Fourth, I have a real problem with the blog stating, "We want to work with agents and affiliates as 'WestBow Press Affiliates.'" That would mean I, as an agent, would supposedly send an author to WestBow, so that I could get a bird-dog fee? Um... no. Sorry. That's a clear ethical violation. 

In retrospect, I was surprised the Nelson folks did this so publicly, since most people in publishing look down on self-pubbing as the low-end, potentially seedy side of the business. Another CBA house, B&H, has a self-pub company -- Cross Books -- but they keep it under wraps. So far as I know, there are no connections between their self-pub side and the actual B&H publishing business. And if this whole enterprise is going to come back and bite Thomas Nelson in the backside, it's because of that. There's at least one publishing house (NOT Thomas Nelson) who has sent out rejection letters stating, "We've decided not to publish your book... but you may want to consider self-publishing with us." That letter doesn't pass the smell test. 

I'm not down on self-publishing. In fact, I've self-pubbed my own books (they were books of card tricks) and done very well. But all of us who work in the industry have seen poor quality, badly written books with no editing and poor production qualities. So, to make sure we leave with a learning tool, let me answer one question: Who should self-publish? 

The answer is simple: Only authors who can sell their books. Period. If you can't sell your book -- either by speaking to a group or pitching them to your organization or offering them to your regular readers, don't self-publish. You'll just lose money. It's extremely rare for a fiction writer to sell any self-published books, no matter what company name is on the spine. So be aware, and do your homework.

Thomas Nelson and Self-Publishing

While I've been moving my daughter Kate into her first apartment, the internet has been buzzing with news about Thomas Nelson (a huge CBA publishing house) announcing that they are moving into the self-publishing business. You can read all about it here http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/10/should-you-consider-self-publishing.html and here  www.news.thomasnelson.com  

Some people are angry, thinking Nelson is profiteering... but my feeling is, "They're a business. OF COURSE they're profiteering." I mean, I'm in business to make a profit. That's what a business does! The team at Nelson has simply noticed the abundance of wannabe writers out there, and decided to create an option for them to get into print. Nothing wrong with that. The industry is changing rapidly, and we're all trying to figure out how to make a living in the new economy. If Nelson wants to start a self-pub unit, it's not much different than if they started a "plush toys" unit or a "TV movie" division. That said, I do think there are some issues to think through.

First, there's no getting around the fact that the Thomas Nelson name has huge cache. So there's the potential for offering a bit of a "come on." I think that's what has upset people -- the notion that the team at Nelson is saying, "Self-pubbing with WestBow is sort of like publishing your book with Thomas Nelson." And that's just not true. 

When the president of the company, Michael Hyatt, blogged about it, he alluded to this when he stated self-pubbing "provides us with a kind of 'farm team.'" Um... Mike... please. I respect you very much, and I've publicly sung your praises, but that looks like you're letting the marketing guys create your copy for you. You're already publishing 500 titles per year, and these books weren't good enough to make your list. Sure, if somebody self-publishes and sells 10,000 copies, you might sit up and pay attention to them -- but so will everyone else. A "farm team" implies that your editorial and marketing people will be investing in these authors, shaping them for a brighter publishing future. And that won't be happening. 

(A side note: Mike also mentioned that authors wanted to self-pub "without getting ripped off." Uh... ripped off by who? Haven't the majority of the complaints been aimed at iUniverse and XLibris and Author House? Nelson has announced they're doing this in a partnership with ASI, who, um, owns iUniverse and XLibris and Author House. So if you're concerned authors are getting ripped off, it's by the very company you're partnering with. But I'm not trying to cast aspersions. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of problems with Author House, for example. And I know Michael Hyatt -- he's a good man, who's just trying to make his company successful.)

Second, the Nelson group must understand that some folks are afraid of the huge potential to scam people -- having some editor say, "We're not interested in publishing your book through our regular publishing company... but have you considered self-publishing with us?" No, I don't expect that will happen. But do you know that's exactly why members of the Association of Author Representatives aren't allowed to have their own editing services or publishing companies? There's too much temptation to look at every bad manuscript that passes an agent's desk and say, "This isn't ready... but for $500, I have an editor who could really get this in shape." A successful agent would have a bonanza -- EVERY crappy manuscript would have the potential to earn the agent money. (And there are several literary agents who do this -- running an editorial service or offering "proposal consulting." They'd be drummed out of the AAR for that reason. Stay away from them.) 

Third, the folks at Nelson probably wish they hadn't decided to use the name WestBow. They used it for expediency (Thomas Nelson already owned it; WestBow was the name of their fiction program a few years back), but that creates real issues... Can a WestBow author now say, "I'm published by the same imprint that publishes TED DEKKER"? Yeah, they can. (And yes, the WestBow authors are livid about this.) My guess is that they'll change this. 

Fourth, I have a real problem with the blog stating, "We want to work with agents and affiliates as 'WestBow Press Affiliates.'" That would mean I, as an agent, would supposedly send an author to WestBow, so that I could get a bird-dog fee? Um... no. Sorry. That's a clear ethical violation. 

In retrospect, I was surprised the Nelson folks did this so publicly, since most people in publishing look down on self-pubbing as the low-end, potentially seedy side of the business. Another CBA house, B&H, has a self-pub company -- Cross Books -- but they keep it under wraps. So far as I know, there are no connections between their self-pub side and the actual B&H publishing business. And if this whole enterprise is going to come back and bite Thomas Nelson in the backside, it's because of that. There's at least one publishing house who has sent out rejection letters stating, "We've decided not to publish your book... but you may want to consider self-publishing with us." That doesn't pass the smell test. 

I'm not down on self-publishing. In fact, I've self-pubbed my own books (they were books of card tricks) and done very well. But all of us who work in the industry have seen poor quality, badly written books with no editing and poor production qualities. So, to make sure we leave with a learning tool, let me answer one question: Who should self-publish? 

The answer is simple: Only authors who can sell their books. Period. If you can't sell your book -- either by speaking to a group or pitching them to your organization or offering them to your regular readers, don't self-publish. You'll just lose money. It's extremely rare for a fiction writer to sell any self-published books, no matter what company name is on the spine. So be aware, and do your homework. 

Precisely why I don't blog much ...

... because I should be working on getting proposals out and answering phone calls and emails. But, here I am instead. Wondering why on earth I threw my opinions out there in there in the first place.

First, let me say I realize we need to change our blog setup so people realize when it's me, SANDRA writing. I'll work on that.  For now, you get to read my words in orange.

Regarding yesterday's blog, I began posting comment replies but they got too long, so consider this a group reply.

I want to clarify that expressing whether or not I approve of TN's decision was not the intention of my post yesterday.  Who really cares whether I approve or not? I certainly wasn't trying to shake my finger at Michael Hyatt. Frankly, I don't know the man, but I do respect his position, and I'm smart enough to know (and humble enough to admit) that he's someone with a lot of influence who has the capacity to make or break careers. Or at least bend them.

My pointing out "what's behind the curtain" had more to do with my frustration about the whole farm team analogy. It just didn't fly for me.

Thomas Nelson's decision to add self publishing to their product line was their choice to make. It's a business model which is different from what's always been done. Does the fact that Nelson and other traditional publishers are stepping into this ring threaten the status quo? Absolutely. Do I respect their courage to at least step out and try something new? Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Am I jumping up and down in excitement about it? Uh, no.

I'm sure this decision wasn't considered lightly. Business ideas are sometimes conceived in a vacuum, but rarely carried out in one. My guess is that the seed of this idea started with a simple question like "how can we continue to move forward and mitigate risk?" For Nelson, this was their answer. Is it the right answer? That's the million dollar question, isn't it?

I realize from Thomas Nelson's perspective, this new division simply offers authors a new choice to make in regard to how they pursue publication. It's a service in exchange for a fee. And it's not like TN is going to go out and hang authors upside down to shake spare change from their pockets. Whether authors choose to buy this service is their choice.

Still, it's needs to be said that good authors work and sacrifice long and hard on their product before presenting it for consideration and this move doesn't make the road to publishing shorter or easier for them. It makes it steeper, bumpier, and harder to navigate.

For most authors, traditional publishing is still the end goal. In CBA, Thomas Nelson has long been considered the brass ring. The stamp of approval. Validation and evidence that an author has earned their way to the top and is deserving of respect as a Christian author. And I believe that respect is something which should be earned. Not available for purchase.

Face it, there is the potential for folks to let their desire to see their name on the spine of a Thomas Nelson book override their motivation to do the work. And, conversely, there is also the potential for TN to let their desire to make money override their motivation to hold to their standards. I'm not accusing. I'm just saying this looks like it has the potential to be a slippery slope and this concerns me.

Obviously I wasn't asked for my opinion on any of this. And as I was talking with another agent this morning, we agreed that it's easy to criticize and point fingers at other people's solutions without offering suggestions or alternatives, so here's mine:

Want a farm team? Go for it. I think it's a great idea. Start a new non-advance, higher royalty division - and perhaps use the Westbow imprint for just such a thing. This would still raise the commitment required from authors without lowering the bar. Help authors who are willing to commit to making the product a success, then spend the money that would have gone into an advance to help the author with marketing. I've done a couple deals this way with other publishers recently, and I have to say, I feel fine about it. There was nothing in it for me upfront as an agent, but in both cases, they are projects I believe have the capacity to not only make money down the road, but also make a difference in the long run.

Just an idea. Conceived in bit of a vacuum, I'll admit. Feel free to discuss. I've got work to do.

Sandra

So ... Self-Publishing is the New Black?

Sandra here.

Who doesn't see much point of getting into topics just to stir debate. Not afraid of conflict. I just don't see the point of adding another voice to what is destined to become an overcrowded, noisy room.

Okay. So, Thomas Nelson is starting a new self-publishing line. That's interesting. A sign of the times, perhaps. Something to watch and a new topic to discuss at writing conferences, debate on blogs, squawk about with retailers. We'll see. I have my opinions about it, but frankly, it's not my business. Literally. It's not my decision to make. Last time I checked, I didn't own Thomas Nelson.

I respect Michael Hyatt and the other fine folks at Thomas Nelson. And I'm positive they (and their shareholders and/or corporate suits) all put much thought and consideration into this decision. My guess is that they're expecting flack and have steeled themselves (and have pre-written press releases waiting) in preparation for it.

However. Ahem ... pitching this new venture as a "farm team" to authors? Excuse me?

That is a giant, sticky, wad of hooey, man.

Look. I know the lines between what once worked and what will work in the future are blurring and that we all need to do what we can to A) keep publishing viable and relevant and B) figure out a way to keep the pipeline of books strong so we can keep spreading the word and doing what we love. 

Call me cynical, but I'm thinking the motivation behind this decision might have something to do with the fact that opportunities to profit from books are growing slimmer by the second. Or is that just coincidence?

Thing is, there really is nothing new under the sun.

Back in the late eighties when I worked in the marketing department of a major CBA publisher, it was standard fare to gasp when authors held out for larger advances or asked that the publisher spend a few dollars on advertising, tours, publicity. "Greedy authors. Don't they understand Christian publishing is a ministry?"

Then the wall fell. Big hair started giving way to grunge. And agents began coming onto the Christian publishing scene (another gasp).  Soon after, the veil of ministry this and other Christian publishers were hiding behind was pulled away and Christian authors were suddenly encouraged to get over it and begin thinking of writing as a business. Hmmm...

At its core, publishing is a business whose end product happens to be the packaging of free expression and creative thought.

It is a capitalistic, money making venture. With some exceptions (Gideon comes to mind) it always has been. Still is. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Thomas Nelson's attempt to legitimize their venture into self-publishing by pitching it as place for them to cultivate and find professional authors is, at best, a stretch. Do they really need to start their own self-publishing venture to do this when there are others who this exact thing already, and do it well?  Go ahead and do it -- just call it what it is.

I don't follow baseball, but (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) aren't farm teams peopled by amateurs looking to work their way up the ranks to the pros? And aren't they typically supported (at least minimally) by the parent clubs or ticket sales? I'll admit I'm not exactly sure how farm teams pay for the gas to get from game to game, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't come out of the pockets of players. And are they expected to invest their own money in order to dress just like the big boys so fans and spectators can't tell the difference? I don't think so.

Seems to me that calling this self-publishing venture a "farm team" is an attempt to hide behind a curtain again, and mask the reality that this is a business venture and a way to mitigate risk. Trouble with that is those of us who have been around awhile can see that there's money behind that curtain.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Sandra

Kindles, Advances, and Self-Publishing Questions

I've been out on the Left Coast, enjoying some sunshine and renting a house, but neglecting my little corner of the blogosphere. (Hey -- we've now had more than a half-million people check out this blog. Pretty cool, considering I have very little actual "talent" for anything.) Some of the questions that have come in lately...

Andrew asked, "Why does everyone in publishing prefer the Sony Reader to the Amazon Kindle, when it seems like the marketplace prefers the Kindle?"

It's true. The publishing houses all got Sony Readers for their editors. In this age of green thinking, editors no longer have to lug home a big sack of dead trees. Instead, they download everything to a Sony Reader, and can take home all those bad proposal ideas in one small tool. But why the Sony over the Amazon Kindle? Three reasons, I think... (1) Price: the Sony is $299, though you can find them on sale for $250 fairly easily. The Kindle is $359, with no discount, ever. (2) Design. The Sony looks and feels like a book. It has a nice cover to it, and the device is metal. The Kindle is plastic and ugly. It feels like a toy. Thank God they got rid of the stupid plastic cover, since all they did was break off. (3) Formats. The Sony will give you Word documents, PDF's, RSS feeds, and  blogs for free. The Kindle will charge you for each of those. (Though they will give you that bastion of ignorance Wikipedia for free! Barf.) So publishers went with the Sony.

The Kindle has two big advantages to it... (1) Wireless technology. Since it works like a cell phone, you don't have to hook the device up to your laptop, log on, and download book as you do with the Sony. Great advantage. (2) Marketing. Amazon has spent millons selling everyone  on the advantages of the Kindle. I like them both, though I use the Sony. It's been said that the Kindle is basically a portable bookstore, whereas the Sony is more of practical a tool for readers. I don't think you'll go wrong with either.

Laura wrote to ask, "Are advances on the way out? I read that publishers are going to stop giving author advances."

To say that book advances are out is an overstatement. This crappy economy has certainly affected the world of books. Publishers have trimmed their lists, are taking fewer risks, making fewer deals, and offering less money. In addition, we're seeing a few imprints try to change the way they're doing business, so we're seeing things like non-returnable books and no-advance deals happen as a way to find some successful strategies to spread the risk. This is a time of change in publishing -- we saw the distribution patterns for books change significantly over the past six or seven years, and now we're seeing the production and economic patterns change as well. That's to be expected. My guess is that we'll see more no-advance deals in the future. But no, publishers have not stopped the practice of offering a writer an advance-against-royalties as any sort of widespread policy.

Carol sent this: "If someone chooses a 'no advance' deal, does the publisher refrain from pushing sales as they would with a book that had a healthy advance?"

Here is a perfect example of the way publishing economics have changed. Traditionally, I would dissuade an author from taking on a no-advance deal. In a situation like that, the publisher had very little at stake. They had their hard costs (ink/paper/binding) and overhead (editorial salaries, etc), but there was no advance to earn back, and therefore no real motivation to push the book very hard. After just a few thousand copies, the basic costs are covered and the publisher is earning money. While I realize most publishers will deny this, I've seen it happen where publishers would basically refuse to put any marketing efforts into a book like that. As my former boss Rick Christian at Alive Communications liked to put it, "There's nothing keeping the publisher awake at night, wondering what he's got to do in order to make a profit." When a publisher has taken a risk, he or she HAS to work overtime in order to make the book successful and have the risk pay off.

Yeah, that may be overstated a bit, but the basic truth is that I think it's hard to find a no-advance deal that has received a lot of marketing and sales effort aside from bestselling authors who felt they didn't need an advance. (One publisher I know used to crow to prospective about his bestselling author never asking for an advance, which basically glossed over the fact that the author already had a loyal readership and had earned hundreds of thousands from previous books, so "paying the light bill" wasn't exactly an issue for her.) Again, an advance is an investment the publisher makes in your book. In my experience, the smaller the investment, the greater the tendency for there to be less commitment to making the book succeed.  

Gwen wants to know, "What do you think of authors sending proposals to online-only book publishers, rather than traditional book publishers?"

I haven't been a fan up to this point, since I don't see any of the online-only book publishers having much success. However, I expect that to change. The dwindling number of slots with regular publishers, combined with the growing interest in e-books, means that we'll probably see some online-only book publishers find some success in the next few years. But no, I don't know who that will be yet.

Gene wrote this: "So help me out... I can send in my manuscript to a regular publisher, wait 12-to-18 months, and have it release from a publisher who just axed his marketing staff. Or I can finish my manuscript, get a decent-looking copy self-published at Lulu, and have it for sale on Amazon in a couple weeks. Can you convince me to be patient and go the traditional route?"

Here's my response: Most self-publshed books fail to make the author any money because the author doesn't know how to market and sell what he or she wrote. You may be an expert in crime scene investigations, and able to put your experience into an interesting manuscript, but if you can't get word out to prospective buyers, all that expertise will not get noticed and will go to waste. (And, in my view, simply posting another book to Amazon's list of more than three million titles doesn't qualify as "marketing.") The issue usually isn't with the book itself, but in the marketing and distribution of the book that causes it to fail.

On the other hand, if you have a big online following, or you regularly speak to large groups of people, or you have media opportunities like a daily radio or television show, then you might be able to self-pub and do fine. However, that's not usually the case. Instead what happens is that an author talks to publishers about his sure-fire idea, but gets rejected. He then turns to agents and tries to sell them on his wowzer manuscript, but gets rejected. He shows up at conferences to pitch editors directly on his wonderful project, but gets rejected. So... he assumes that everybody in the industry is wrong, that his idea and writing is too brilliant for the average fenderhead working in publishing to recognize, and he self-publishes. He turns in a manuscript, the vanity press up-sells him to hardcover, and one happy day he receives 1000 copies of his book to place in his garage. After giving away 25 copies to relatives, and selling 15 to friends at church, he then waits for the stampede of readers to purchase the remaining 960 copies. He chats it up, maybe buys some ads, and does what he can to move all those books he paid for. Three years later, he wonders what he'll do with the 922 copies still collecting dust, since the cover and tone of the book is beginning to get dated. They get donated to garage sales, offered as free giveaways, and eventually turned over to a recycler to be turned into pulp.

I've noted on here that I have successfully self-published a few books. But I only did so when I knew exactly how I was going to sell them. The huge majority of self-pubbed titles lose money for the author. Sometimes large quantities of money. And then the word doesn't get out anyway. That's why you may want to consider sticking with a publisher who knows how to market and sell books.

In a similar vein, Caroline wrote, "What if I'm doing a book on a very current subject and don't want to wait two years to see it in print? Let's say I'm dealing with a political situation or a new technology -- something that's actually NEW and not a re-hash of old ideas andI don't want an agent querying and showing it to others. Should I consider self-publishing?"

In my view, the same rules apply as my previous answer. If you have a very current subject (let's say you want to do an instant book on Rush Limbaugh's speech to the RNC, or you're planning to do a handbook on "how to get the most out of your Kindle"), you might ask yourself if a book is the best way to get the word out. Would an article on the web be better? What if you created some sort of handbook and sold it on your site? Publishers can handle the occasional drop-in book, but there has to be a reason they're going to surprise bookstores with that sort of title. You can do the book yourself, but again, if you can't reach the buying public with effective marketing of your title, then it doesn't matter how good your manuscript is.

As for the implied concern you've got about secrecy, my experience is that those concerns are usually overblown by authors. I've had writers ask me to sign confidentiality agreements before showing me their manuscript (I declined) and tell me things like, "You've never seen anything like this before" when in fact they've just created a novel that turns the Book of Revelation into a novel. Whoopie. If I've got a good idea, I'm probably going to sell it. I work with good authors, so I don't lose much sleep over the worry that somebody else is going to steal the idea.

Before I go, let me point you to a couple things you should check out. Lisa Delay's blog at lifeasprayer.wordpress.com gave me much to think about as I've been reading it lately. I always seem to learn something when I go to Rachelle Mee-Chapman's magpie-girl.com. And the latest words from both Jenny B Jones blog and Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like (links for both can be found to the right) made me snort coffee through my nose. 

The Dumb Stuff:

1. So I had two letters this week that started with the words, "After taking hours to research agents, I came to the conclusion I needed to send this to you..."  And they are both children's books. We don't represent children's books. We state clearly on our website (which you can link to here: www.macgregorliterary.com) that we don't do children's books.  Are people really so dumb as to think I'll believe they took hours to research this?

2. This week's hot book concept came from a guy who wants me to represent his "cross between Stolike and Schmerna." Um... I have no idea who Stolike and Schmerna are. None. Polish authors, perhaps?

3. And you'll be happy to know that creative packaging still works. Somebody sent me a chick-lit novel in a Jimmy Choo shoe box. The novel didn't work, but I loved having the box to hand to my wife. (And no, I won't send it back.)

Resources for Writers

I've got a bunch of notes and questions regarding writer resources, so let me try to get to several of them today...

On MONEY: Patricia wrote to say, "Thanks for your recent blog post about earning money. So if a book doesn't 'earn out' its advance, is the balance applied against the next book?"

It is if your contract is cross-collateralized -- that is, if all your various book advances are "basketed" into one deal. If not -- if each book is on a separate contract -- then no, your advance cannot be applied to your next book. 

On REMAINDERS: DeeAnn wrote me to ask, "What does it mean to 'remainder' a book?"

That's when the publisher sells the remaining copies of your book to a book wholesaler for less than the cost of printing. It commonly happens when your book is going out of print, or when they're down to the last 1000 copies or so, and the publisher wants to be rid of them. The books might have cost $2 to print, but they'll sell them for $1 apiece to somebody who will buy the entire remaining stock, just to get them out of the warehouse.   

On SELF-PUBLISHING: Gene wants to note, "The latest issue of Writers Digest is filled with ads for self-publishing. I'm on my second agent, still trying to get  published, but it takes SOOOO long. How can you convince me not to go to lulu.com and have my book for sale on Amazon tomorrow morning? When will the traditionalists speed up the process?"

You're right -- there are a ton of self-publishing companies. Some are good, some are not. Be careful. The problem with self-publishing is not the speed, it's the sales. If you write a book, you have to make sure the book is good (and if publishers are all turning you down, there could be a message there, Gene). You also want to ensure the cover is good, the editing is good, the title is good, and that you know how to sell it. The biggest problem with self-pubbing is that usually the author doesn't know how to market and sell his own book. Listing it on Amazon isn't really a marketing strategy -- there are two million books on Amazon. If you can't market and sell your self-pubbed book, don't go that route -- you'll lose a lot of money. As for the speed of traditional publishing, it's not the production side that is slow -- it's the retail side. It's March as I write this, and right now book sales people are walking into bookstores to show everyone the coming Christmas titles. The catalogs they're using were put together a couple months ago, so they could be used as sales tools, so that stores could order the books and get them in time for Christmas, AND the marketing people can begin their push before the book actually arrive. All that takes time. Publishing is a slow business.

On PROPOSALS: Martha wrote, "I've been told it's customary for a nonfiction proposal to include two sample chapters. So why has a publisher asked me to send all the material I have finished? I've sent 9 of the 12 chapters and have still not heard a decision."

It's true that a standard nonfiction proposal generally included a thorough description of the project, table of contents, author bio, and two sample chapters. But standards can change. In these competitive times, we're often seeing publishers ask for more of the writing. They want to see if you have enough to say, if your message can carry a manuscript, and if you're close to being done. The fact that a publisher has asked to see more of your work is a good sign, Martha. There's certainly a risk that you could complete the work and the publisher still says no -- but that's true with any book. In fact, if you're so close to being done, I'd probably encourage you to finish the book so that you have the added selling point of being able to tell publishers, "The manuscript is complete."

On CONFERENCES: Lee Ann wrote and asked, "What are the best Christian writers' conferences?"

Christian writers these days have a plethora of great conferences they can attend, and I'm a big fan of them. I think conferences are a great place to network with other writers, hear from experts, and get face-to-face with editors and agents. My favorite conference is probably the one put on by the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). It floats, but this September will be in Minneapolis. The Write-to-Publish conference at Wheaton College is a good choice -- it takes place the first week of June (and though the ads say I'll be there, I had to cancel due to my daughter's college graduation). Other good options include the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference in Asheville, NC, and the Colorado Christian Writers Conference up in scenic Estes Park -- both of these take place in May, and both offer excellent speakers in beautiful settings. There are a bunch of other big ones with good opportunities to learn and network -- Florida, Philadelphia, Oregon, Glorieta (NM). Jerry Jenkins' Christian Writers Guild puts on a conference that I'm told is very strong (though pricey), but I've never attended. The Mount Hermon conference in California is coming up in a week, and, though expensive, is one of the good ones. Reg Forder's American Christian Writers organization puts on smaller one-day conferences in cities around the nation, and many colleges will have excellent writing conferences in the summer (I'm speaking at the Harriette Austin Writer's Conference at the University of Georgia this summer, for example).  There are also many excellent general conferences not focused on CBA, and a couple of speciality conferences to consider. Next month Calvin College will be hosting their bi-annual Festival of Faith and Writing, and ACT ONE out in Hollywood offers a special conference for Christian screenwriters. Finally, there are retreats and smaller gatherings going on all the time. There's really no reason for a writer to not find a conference where he or she can learn, network, and get inspired.

On NON-CONFERENCE RESOURCES: Bev wrote to ask, "Aside from a writing conference, what sort of other resources can you recommend to those of us who want to learn more about writing and marketing?'

I encourage you to check out Randy Ingermanson's material at www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com. He has some great things to say about writing articles to promote your books, and offers a teleseminar on how to promote your writing through speaking. And a newer site to visit is www.wannabepublished.blogspot.com, created by my friend Mary DeMuth. Some good stuff for those looking to break into the business. If you're looking to network with other writers, novelists should connect with the afore-mentioned ACFW, and many writers would appreciate a yahoo group called "The Writers View." You'll probably want to be reading Publisher's Weekly to find out about the industry, and the web-based Publisher's Lunch and Publisher's Marketplace are two sources I cannot live without. If you really want to stay on top of the CBA market, you should be looking at Christian Retailing magazine and buying a copy of Sally Stuart's excellent book with Random House, Christian Writers Market Guide. Finally, consider Writer's Digest Magazine, and especially their annual Writers Market, which tells you everything you probably need to know about book publishers. Hope this helps.

More on Self-Publishing and Ghostwriting

After our last discussion, Steve wrote to ask, "So is there anyone making money at self-publishing?"

Absolutely. I have successfully self-published books in the past. If you're planning to self-pub, you need to (1) write a great book, (2) use a professional editor, (3) pay for a great cover design, and (4) work with a quality printer. However, creating the book is only the first part of the process. You also have to (5) know how to market the book, (6) spend a lot of time and money marketing it, and (7) have a plan for selling copies. The fact is, most self-published books lose the author money because he or she had no plan for selling books.

There was a lot of discussion after my last post from people who wanted to defend self-publishing, and I found it completely off-topic. Of course you can find a good printer who will do a quality job. And you can certainly find ways to keep it inexpensive. But the facts are that most people lose money on the deal. I think self-pubbing is great, assuming you know what to do once you have the books in hand. Most people don't. So if you self-pub, you need to have a workable plan for selling quantities of your book.

Donna wrote to say, "You've often said every author should take charge of their own marketing. After having paid your dues and learned all those valuable lessons while publishing your book, why not self-publish from then on? If you have to do all your own marketing anyway, why not just sell your books yourself and make ten bucks per book instead of the dollar per book you'd get in royalties?"

You know, some people decide to do exactly that. They figure out how to sell books, who their readers are, and how to reach them. There are plenty of ministries and companies who self-publish and make more money than if they had sold the books through a regular, royalty-paying publishing house. But there are three caveats to what you're suggesting. First, you've got to warehouse and ship your own books. For some people, that's a pain -- warehousing may not be worth the hassle. Second, your book won't make it onto store shelves if it's self-pubbed. There's money to be made for a good self-publisher, but there's little fame or glory. Your book won't reach beyond the people you can talk to, unless you study and figure out how to sell books via ads and the internet. So don't expect to impress your friends with your self-published title. And third, you've got to market and sell ALL the books. There's no waiting for someone else to come through -- it's all on you, as the publisher. If you're not into that type of responsibility, there's no way you'll enjoy self-pubbing. Again, the chief reason self-pubbed books fail is because the author doesn't know how to SELL her own books. She might know how to write them, maybe how to edit them, and possibly how to talk about them. But she doesn't know how to sell books to prospective buyers. If you don't know how to do that, you should learn before you make any publishing decisions.

Janice wrote to ask, "How much can a ghost writer expect to get for his or her first book? And if the writer gets his/her name on the book, what percentage of the profits should he/she ask for?"

There are a number of variables at play -- How much time do you think will it take you? How big is the project? Did the author give you any materials, or are you creating it from scratch? Is the author a pain in the rear? All of those have to factor into your decision. Every year Writer's Digest issues a report on how much money free-lance writers and editors make. They generally break it down to how much per project and how much per hour, and they typically offer a high, a low, and an average amount. They noted that last year the low was about $1500, the high was $75,000, and the average fee to ghost a book for someone was $22,000.

That's a big chunk of change. Most authors start small -- it wouldn't surprise me if you were paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500-to-$4000 for your first ghosted project. If this is your Great Aunt Edna, who wants you to write her life story as "Garden Queen of Dubuque," or the Rev. Ernest Angree, who wants you to write up the notes from his sermon series entitled "How to Be Holy As Me," you're not going to see much green. So ask some questions: What are their expectations? What do they want you to create? How long do they want it to be? People who aren't writers and have never created a book generally don't have a frame of reference, consequently they don't realize how hard it is to create 100 pages filled with words. You may want to offer to start on an hourly basis (say $25-to-$35 per hour), or to write up the first two chapters for a flat fee of $300, just to test the waters. Of course, asking for a flat fee up front is the plan all freelance writers come to eventually. When I was making my living as a collaborative writer, I quickly figured out I much preferred sure cash to potential cash.

Walter asked, "If I decide to ghostwrite a book for a friend, what should the key contract points look like?' 

I'd say the key points to clarify are (1) an overall description of the project, (2) word count, (3) due date, (4) compensation, (5) who covers expenses, (6) copyright, (7) what credit you'll get, (8) the fact that this is a binding contract when signed, (9) the fact that if there is a disagreement you'll go to arbitration rather than hiring lawyers, (10) the fact that the contract is under the laws of your state, and (11) a warranty in which you promise not to plagiarize any material or slander anyone. That about covers it.

Margaret asked me, "Do you get the sense that CBA publishers are becoming more receptive to Catholic authors? If not, will they ever?" 

Yeah, I do. I think Baker, Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, and other publishers are becoming more receptive to Catholic authors. And, of course, I now expect to get letters from nutcases who will want to explain to me why the Pope is the Antichrist, and how saying anything nice about the people we share historical Christianity with is compromising my faith, etc. And I've got to tell you, I am SICK TO DEATH of so-called believers wanting to explain why nobody else is ever quite "Christian" enough for them, so that their religious club consists of a handful of true believers holding onto the faith that the rest of us must have abandoned.

Bernice aksed, "What do you do when your writing friends and critique partners are not experienced enough to help you get to the next level? I guess the obvious answers are to study the craft, go to conferences, meet more writers...is there anything else?"

Lots of writers are in that situation, Bernice. I'm a huge fan of critique groups, I encourage people to attend conferences, and I think hanging out with other writers is great for your career. But the BEST thing you can do is find a mentor -- somebody with some good experience, who can help you improve your writing. That individual doesn't have to be perfect. He or she just needs to be a bit further down the path than yourself.

One last note: Carol saw the "worst titles" note that I mentioned in a previous post, and she tells me she found this book for sale on amazon: "How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? Or Effective Way?" I didn't believe her, so I looked it up. Turns out she's telling the truth. That is a title you can buy on amazon for $14.39. Grab your credit card and go visit -- looks like a huge winner to me!

Self-Publishing, Ghosting, and Other Expensive Ideas

Denise wrote and asked, "What do you mean when you say someone 'self-published'?"

Normally an author sends his or her agent a proposal. The agent shops it to a royalty-paying publishing house, who signs a contract, produces the book, and sells it to stores. The author licenses the sales rights to the publisher, so instead of actually "selling" the book, the author's job consists of chatting it up, helping promote it, and complaining that the publisher isn't doing enough marketing.

That's the "normal" route a book follows. But sometimes an author will choose to go directly to a printer, have his or her own copies of the book produced, and then try to sell the book directly. Under this arrangement, the author pays for all the production costs (editing, cover art, ink, paper, binding, shipping). Therefore, the risk is great. However, if the author can actually sell some copies, his earnings will be much greater. Instead of making a dollar in royalty for each book, the possibility exists that he can make ten dollars for each book sold.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I was able to say that with a straight face. Okay, in reality, the author knows NOTHING about producing books. So he (we're going to assume a male author, since nobody can tell most men anything) pays too much for a bad cover. (Self-pubbed books are notorious for bad covers.) He sends it to the printer who says they'll edit it, but don't. (Self-pubbed books are similarly notorious for poor editing.) He hopes for good quality ink and paper. (Take a guess at what goes in this parenthetical note.) He pays too much for each book, has no contacts for marketing it, and, worst of all, doesn't know how to sell them after he's talked with his relatives, neighbors, and steadily shrinking network of friends. He goes in debt $12,000, but he can puff his chest out at his 20th high school reunion, since he's now "An Author." That's the game, Denise.

Of course, there are two reasons people continue to self-publish... First, because there's a sucker born every minute. If you want to throw your money at a project in order to feel better about yourself, who am I to stop you? Second, because occasionally an author will educate himself. He'll invest in a real cover artist, send his manuscript to a legit editor, and team up with a quality printer. He'll find a great marketing company to help get the word out on his book, then throw himself into promoting it. And, above all, he will research and invest in sales channels, so that he stands a chance of earning back his investment. The few who do this often speak to groups, so they can sell them in the back of the room, or they know their audience extremely well, and understand how to reach potential readers. But this doesn't happen very often. Short of playing the ponies, pulling the handles of slot machines,  or buying stock options, I know of very few ways to lose money as fast as self-pubbing. More power to you!

Mary wrote to ask, "I have a friend who wants me to write his autobiography. He wrote a few pages -- they were poorly crafted, but sweet. I told him there's no market for this, but he insists I write it for him, and he has family money to finance it. How do we determine payment?"

Wow. If he's writing out checks randomly like this, ask him if he needs a consultant. I'd be happy to have him send some of that money my way, Mary. Okay, here's a quick way to determine payment... Look at the project and figure out how long it will take you to write. If you can create about four or five pages per day, and he wants 100 pages, you should be able to get it done in a month. (It takes a bit of experience to look at a project and figure out how long it's going to take, but let's say a month of full-time writing.) Now you have to figure out how much you want to make in a month. If you had a normal job, and worked for a month, maybe you'd make $4000. Since you have to pay your own taxes out of this, charge him $5000 and you're all set. (And yes, the $5000 price tag will probably scare away most people anyway.) Having told you all that, you should know the $5000 figure is low. 

Not everyone charges by "time on project." Some charge by the word  or by the hour. Last year, the average hourly ghostwriting fee in this country was $73 (it ranged between $50 and $100). It's hard to determine the average overall project fee for this type of thing, but I can tell you the average fee for an "as told to" book in this country was about $22,000...but it usually ran about four months, so my $5000-for-a-month estimate is pretty close to being spot on.

Of course,  you may want to heed my advice from an earlier post: If anyone asks you to write their memoir and they are not a celebrity, run the other way. Some day you'll thank me for this bit of wisdom.

And Linda wrote with the question, "What do you think of the services of The Writers Edge and ECPA's First Edition? Do these work?"

For the uninitiated, "The Writers Edge" (writersedgeservice.com) is a private company that solicits author proposals, then produces a printed report that is made available to Christian publishers. You list the title and genre, write your own short book description, and can use up to 75 words to explain your credentials. For that, they charge you $95. They claim that last year they placed 18 books with publishers, though they don't list the projects or the publishers.

The people at Writers Edge are very nice. They mean well. But I'm not a fan. I don't know of many editors who have the time to wade through a monthly report of unsolicited ideas on various ideas in random genres. In fact, I don't know of any significant editor who has contracted a book from this service. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, only that, in my experience, it hasn't been a boon to authors. I still think an author with an agent is much more likely to get his or her project reviewed -- in fact, I believe a well-rehearsed pitch at a writing conference would make a stronger impression than a brief description in what amounts to a printed slush pile.

ChristianManuscriptSubmission.com (formerly known as "First Edition") is run by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It's similar to Writers Edge in that you list the title and genre, but they allow you to give a 500-word description of your book, a complete Table of Contents, and a 3000-word sample chapter. Rather than producing a printed brochure, they post the proposals on a web site available only to the publishing members of ECPA. The cost is $98 to have your book listed for six months.

In theory, this is a better deal -- you get more words, and you would think that ECPA members would be checking the site. But in truth, the same criticisms hold true. I know of no editors (at ECPA houses or elsewhere) who are short on proposals. So put yourself into an editor's shoes... Would you prefer to contract with someone you don't know, or with an agent you know and trust? Would you rather be reviewing random pieces on a web site sent in by anyone who can afford the fee, or a handful of polished proposals sent in by agents you've done business with in the past? There are thousands of unpublished authors trying to peddle their manuscripts, so this has created the biggest electronic slush pile on the planet. I just don't see that it's an effective tool.

I'm sorry -- I'm an agent, and I know this sounds completely self-serving. But I used to be an editor, a senior editor, and a publisher, and I can tell you with certainty that the publishing business has moved away from the do-it-yourselfer and toward the professionals and specialists.

Does it hurt to participate in The Writers Edge and/or Christian Manuscript Submission? Of course not. And maybe you'll be the one who gets noticed. But using that logic, you may want to also buy a lottery ticket, so that after you win, you can purchase your own publishing house. Business moves from less sophisticated to more sophisticated -- from amateurism to professionalism. It's why most houses only review agented submissions.