Working with a Publisher
For many authors, the optimal strategy for producing a book is to work with a publisher. However, it's not enough to simply find a publisher and write the book—to benefit fully from this relationship, a lot of work is needed.
Finding a Publisher
It is critically important to find the right publisher for the project and to write the best book possible.
If you choose me as your collaborator, then I won't just write your book, but I will work to ensure it gets picked up by a publisher who is right for the book—an inappropriate publisher can be more damaging for a project than having no publisher. As well as making sure the book is good I will ensure that it is a commercial proposition in today's crowded marketplace.
If you don't have a publisher, then I can help take the initial idea and develop it into a proposal for an agent and/or publisher's commissioning editor. From there I will help the publisher's sales people understand how the book could be marketed so they can get it into the bookstores.
Among other things this proposal would include:
- an outline/synopsis of the book
- a market analysis
- a sample chapter or two
- the "back cover" text
Working with a Publisher
You may already have a publisher in place, in which case you are likely to come to me just for the writing. However, I will still do a lot to help the book progress through the publishing process.
Once the book has been written, I will then work with any publisher as the book goes through the editorial process and moves to the marketing phase. While it is easy to expect a publisher to be responsible for marketing a book—and a publisher will do a lot of work here—at the end of the day, it is your book and you will know it better than anyone else, so you will be person the best placed to know how the book should be sold.