Marketing Your Book Begins With You

The proposal for a nonfiction book is a sales pitch, a teaser, a public relations kit, and a business proposal rolled into one package. The purpose of a book proposal is to sell a book project to an editor at a commercial book publisher. The editorial and marketing standards set by the proposal can bear heavily not only on whether a given book will sell but also on how hefty an advance the project commands.

The book proposal tells prospective buyers (that is, acquisitions editors at publishing houses) what the proposed book is about, who the writer is, and why the published work will sell.

Before publishers commit to the considerable effort and expense required to bring a book to the commercial market, they must believe a given project is worth their investment. Publishers must see profit in the enterprise—this much is a given. The author’s mission is to make publishers see money written all over their words.

Something new, something old: The book proposal sells the project to the publisher by showing what’s new about the book, as well as where it fits into the established book-marketing category structure. The writing in the proposal demonstrates that the author(s) will present the targeted material with energy and freshness. The book proposal is a chance to show what’s in the book, of course, and to emphasize what’s in it for the publisher by displaying all the advantages you as an author bring to the project.

What Publishers Love

Publishers cherish authors whose accomplishments extend well beyond compositional skills. The author who brings abundant accessory resources (such as proven marketability) to the project has the best chance to stand out from the pack of those who compete for publisher support and bookbuyer dollars.

Among valued not-necessarily-literary author attributes:

· Promotional guile (and accompanying successful track record).

· Tangible media contacts and appeal: Appearances on television talkshows and radio call-in programs; press clips from the print media—reviews, interviews, and personality profiles about you and your work; journal articles featuring your byline; previous book credits.

· Sales sense linked to strong concept development and on-target readership definition.

· The ability to create the hook that sells the book: And sell it must—to every player in the publishing chain, from the agent, to the editor, to the publishers’ sales and marketing team, and, importantly, to the bookstores and the bookbuying public.

Bloomsday! Hooray! Seminal Blogger: James Joyce

Many are put forth as candidates for the title "original blogger." One of my personal favorites is Thomas Paine, whose vanity-press publications sparked revolution worldwide. Oh, there've long been plogs [old-fashioned print logs, formerly known as diaries or journals]. With the advent of slogs/alogs [sound logs or audiologs], vlogs [video logs], and mmlogs [multimedia logs], the field is open to nominate anyone from Frida Kahlo, to Lillie Langtry, Cicero, Solomon, Confucius, Ramses, or Hammurabi.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the novelistically incarnated Bloomsday [the day during which the novel Ulysses took place], James Joyce, author of that richly ornamented novel, has been deified worldwide.

To be pedantic, but not sheerly so, novel means new, and good novels always tap into current or, better, incipient trends. Ulysses, by James Joyce, like all smart novels, ties in with contemporary popular cultural trends in such exciting and anticipatory sectors as advertising [lead character Leopold Bloom sells adverts for a Dublin periodical]; billboards and broadsides; musical theatre; plastic arts; cosmetics and fashion; simply strolling in the hard-copy world; illuminating drunkard philosophy; kinky sexual proclivities; new media [which then included cinema] -- as well as original twists on traditional cuisine.

We see in Ulysses how commonplace is self-expression: belching, orgasms, smoking, and so forth. Ah, yes: The difference between a seasoned professional and naive greenhorn is not only how to express it, but, in addition, how to promote it.

Emanating from all over the globe -- and, via satellite, outer space -- are vivid performances of Ulysses, either on your local radio station [I'm catching WBAI in New York], expurgated versions on television, or -- when you explore, variations that have popped through the internet, some of which are archived for your future delectation.

I'm signing off now, because I want to enjoy.

Dear gentlefolk, I kindly invite you to do likewise.

[This article has appeared in somewhat different form at the AlwaysOn website.]

Not Your Usual Paper Trail

Book publishing today is by no means descended directly -- much less exclusively -- from the formerly dominant ink-and-paper industry. Rather, book publishing's rich history encompasses such genealogical threads as the glyph carvings of Kmt, cuneiform incisements from Mesopotamia, Asian calligraphy, and Maya multimedia expression found in the ancient and classical worlds.

In modern times, books and their marketplace are interlaced with such trends and tendencies as Thomas Paine's vanity press plogs, the ongoing evolution of newspapers and magazines, handbills, billboards, and posters -- as well as developments in the plastic arts, film, music, video, and digital media.

Our continuing commentary, critiques, and occasional creative endeavors are infused with this manifold tradition: Expect us to treat this legacy explicitly now and then; however, regardless of whether it's expressed directly, this heritage will always be with us.