Posts Tagged ‘landing a publishing deal’

Before you begin planning your book you must spend some time considering the intended market. Your reader is the most precious asset. To escalate up the book charts, it must amaze your readers and have them wanting to read more of your work.

I’m always shocked at how many new writers set off on their book-writing journey and don’t stop to think about who will be reading the finished product. Before you begin writing answer this question:

Who are you writing this book for?

Is it just for you? Is it for your friends and family? Is it for your local community? Is it for the bookshelves? Is it for the whole world?

This isn’t a trick question. It’s simply to help you start thinking about your market. You might think, ‘but why do I have to think about my market already?! I haven’t even begun!’ Well, now is the perfect time to consider your market because this way you can sculpt the book to your market’s needs.

The worst thing that could happen is that you ignore this advice and you plough on with your book regardless. When you’ve finished it, you’ll no doubt send it out to publishers and agents in the hope of landing a book deal. Then the reality will hit home. You’ll receive rejection after rejection and now again one agent might be so kind as to suggest why your work was rejected. Time and time again you’ll hear ‘I don’t see how this book can be marketed. I don’t know who this book is for. I don’t know what genre your book falls within.’

Don’t allow agents and publishers to use this ammunition against you!

One piece of advice which I received years ago from a published writer was this:

‘A new writer writes for themselves, a published writer writes for their readers.’

This has remained with me ever since.

Now let’s now look at the steps to take to identify and determine your book’s market and genre.

Your Ambitions

How big do you want this book to become? Many people just want to write a book for their friends and family. I know my elderly neighbour did. I remember reading his book, which wasn’t written to a very professional standard. It was a confused mess of notes which didn’t make much sense to anyone who didn’t know him. There’s no way any publisher would have taken it on. But that was not his aim. He just wanted to get his memories down on paper, particularly the period of his life during the Second World War, in order to pass on to his grandchildren and a handful of friends. His memories meant something to him.

When you are writing a book for your family, or about your life in general be realistic about the outcome. I’m forever hearing people say, ‘my life would make a great story!’ That may well be the case. But will anyone else want to read about it? If you are serious about publishing your memoirs, then I recommend that you study successful autobiographies and take a memoir writing course.

But let’s say you’re a writer with a dream of getting published. You’ve written a novel and you want to see it in the bookshops. The next question to ask yourself is:

What Genre Is Your Book?

The answer to this question very much depends on who is going to be reading your book.

Imagine the bookshop in your local mall. You walk in and where do you see your book? Which genre / category is it in? Chick-lit? Sci-fi? Horror? Young Adult? If you can be clear about what ‘label’ your book has, then your job will be far easier when you try and sell it to agents and publishers.  

If you’re not sure about the genre, or if your book is a mixture of genres, I’d strongly advise you not to write it at all. Agents will be confused and your manuscript will be slung on the ‘no’ pile in a jiffy. It’s not about narrowing down your market. It’s all about the positioning.

When you walk into that agent’s office, you want to be prepared. If you have no knowledge of the other authors in your genre, then this doesn’t look good. What are they doing? What are they writing about? How do they connect with their readers? What can you model from them? I’m talking basics here – from word count, chapter length, number of characters, typical storylines, etc. And I’m also talking marketing strategies – do they have a blog for their book? Who is their ideal reader? How do they reach them?

So, choose a genre, research it thoroughly and model the most successful authors within this genre.

 The Market

Next, spend some time thinking about the impact you want to make on your market. 

What do you want to get out of your book on a personal level? How many copies do you want to sell? Which countries do you want to sell to? What TV shows do you want to appear on? What radio stations do you want to be interviewed for? Which bestseller lists do you want to top? How much money do you want to make and within what timeframe? Do you see it in the future as a film?

It’s ok to think big at this point. Someone once told me this:

‘Reach for the stars and you’ll at least hit the moon!’

Also, consider the ecological impact of your book. How does it serve humanity and the world on a grander level? Writing is not just about you. A good book is meant to be read by millions. A good book is about communicating your message to other people. 

Writing carries an element of responsibility. No one says writing a book is easy. If they do, don’t believe them. Writing a book takes courage, commitment, hard-work and patience…

Love & Light

The Word Queen xx