Yes! on presenting a range of consumer interests to build a comp list. There is so much content to consume, it is silly to only look at books as part of the publishing tea leaf reading for success
I'm interested in your perspective on comp titles! I always heard that editors use them as a way to project sales when they're making up P&Ls before they offer to acquire a title. (I'm not saying their sales projections are accurate...) I've been behind on my inbox, but I'm going to become a paying subscriber today! Love your work
My gosh, thank you. I am a fan of yours! I loved Self Care. Comp titles are honestly a bit ridiculous because you can't just rely on data. You have to look at what trends were popular, what the economic atmosphere was like, what movies were popular, etc., to get the full picture of a book's publication. I've worked for three publishers who did not use P&Ls, so when you wanted to acquire something, you had to write bullet points explaining why you thought it would sell and how many copies you thought it would sell based on the present. Then we'd all talk it through. To me, that is much smarter.
My publisher told me what sold them on my proposal was how well organized and thought-out it was (and yes, the idea was good). I have a very small following on social media and I'm a newbie author, but I was able to demonstrate how hard I'll work to write a GOOD book and do my best to promote it! These suggestions are all great!
Your comments on social media are spot on. I built my Twitter following to almost 7,000—and it’s mostly useless. I don’t even have half that on Substack and get between 2,000–3,000 views on my average posts. Building a community with Substack was the smartest thing I accidentally did :)
I love your ideas about changing book proposals. Some of the traditional requirements fall flat due to current tech changes. However, the thing that stopped me cold (showing my age) was the mention of bodysuits. My reaction was, what? They're back? And, I promptly clicked the link to check it out. LOL
I don’t disagree that it can be marketing, but the content is generally not the same as, say, a publisher’s marketing email. Plus, to make it work on here, you’ve got to provide good content that is not only selling a book.
100% agree! I spent years working with authors as a consultant, helping them with an inbound email marketing strategy (i.e. - just providing interesting, valuable content. Only when their latest book was coming out would their subscribers hear about it).
I just went through the book proposal process, and I think I might've stumbled on some of these elements out of ignorance of what's truly supposed to be in a proposal, and as a byproduct of the core purpose of the proposal to me, to prove to myself that there's a book in material I was considering. In the end, my comp titles weren't about sales so much as what the book itself will be like. Rather than identifying the specific channels where people might hear about my book, I talked about the audiences who might be interested in it and way, and why I think that's a decent number of people. (I figure the marketing channels will probably be pretty different by the time the book is in the world 18 months (or so) from now.) I was really focused on simply convincing the editors that it would be a good book worth publishing. I had some advantage in that it's on a related subject to a previous book that sold pretty well, but none of it is a slam dunk. I appreciate your thinking because it puts the attention back on the intersection of book and audience, which is how books get bought and sold in the end, right?
Ooo I’m excited for the book launch content! I’m preparing to go on submission soon(ish)... gotta finish this revision first... so book launch is still a twinkle in my eye ✨ but I like to pretend it’s just around the corner for me
Yes! on presenting a range of consumer interests to build a comp list. There is so much content to consume, it is silly to only look at books as part of the publishing tea leaf reading for success
I'm interested in your perspective on comp titles! I always heard that editors use them as a way to project sales when they're making up P&Ls before they offer to acquire a title. (I'm not saying their sales projections are accurate...) I've been behind on my inbox, but I'm going to become a paying subscriber today! Love your work
My gosh, thank you. I am a fan of yours! I loved Self Care. Comp titles are honestly a bit ridiculous because you can't just rely on data. You have to look at what trends were popular, what the economic atmosphere was like, what movies were popular, etc., to get the full picture of a book's publication. I've worked for three publishers who did not use P&Ls, so when you wanted to acquire something, you had to write bullet points explaining why you thought it would sell and how many copies you thought it would sell based on the present. Then we'd all talk it through. To me, that is much smarter.
My publisher told me what sold them on my proposal was how well organized and thought-out it was (and yes, the idea was good). I have a very small following on social media and I'm a newbie author, but I was able to demonstrate how hard I'll work to write a GOOD book and do my best to promote it! These suggestions are all great!
Love the “new comp thinking” especially!
Your comments on social media are spot on. I built my Twitter following to almost 7,000—and it’s mostly useless. I don’t even have half that on Substack and get between 2,000–3,000 views on my average posts. Building a community with Substack was the smartest thing I accidentally did :)
Appreciate these book proposal thought but I am also here for the what you are wearing recs because I need some new clothing!
So right on! Also I haven’t worn a bodysuit since 9th grade - are they really comfortable?
These are because they fit properly & are not thongs. Super soft too.
Thanks!
Thank you for this- as always, extremely helpful 😍😍😍 and your playlist is 🔥
I love your ideas about changing book proposals. Some of the traditional requirements fall flat due to current tech changes. However, the thing that stopped me cold (showing my age) was the mention of bodysuits. My reaction was, what? They're back? And, I promptly clicked the link to check it out. LOL
Bodysuits are very much back. I like the ones I linked to because they cover my behind!
I would like to nitpick the Substack point. What you're really talking about is email marketing (of which Substack is one provider).
Email is greatly undervalued by most authors (although it's true that you need to know how best to use it).
I don’t disagree that it can be marketing, but the content is generally not the same as, say, a publisher’s marketing email. Plus, to make it work on here, you’ve got to provide good content that is not only selling a book.
100% agree! I spent years working with authors as a consultant, helping them with an inbound email marketing strategy (i.e. - just providing interesting, valuable content. Only when their latest book was coming out would their subscribers hear about it).
I'd also submit that publishers should be doing the same rather than the standard "here's our books" emails.
Publishers should be on Substack.
I just went through the book proposal process, and I think I might've stumbled on some of these elements out of ignorance of what's truly supposed to be in a proposal, and as a byproduct of the core purpose of the proposal to me, to prove to myself that there's a book in material I was considering. In the end, my comp titles weren't about sales so much as what the book itself will be like. Rather than identifying the specific channels where people might hear about my book, I talked about the audiences who might be interested in it and way, and why I think that's a decent number of people. (I figure the marketing channels will probably be pretty different by the time the book is in the world 18 months (or so) from now.) I was really focused on simply convincing the editors that it would be a good book worth publishing. I had some advantage in that it's on a related subject to a previous book that sold pretty well, but none of it is a slam dunk. I appreciate your thinking because it puts the attention back on the intersection of book and audience, which is how books get bought and sold in the end, right?
Ooo I’m excited for the book launch content! I’m preparing to go on submission soon(ish)... gotta finish this revision first... so book launch is still a twinkle in my eye ✨ but I like to pretend it’s just around the corner for me