WEEKEND BOOK THERAPY
Your chance to ask me anything about book publishing.
Confidantes,
Welcome to Book Therapy!
This community is for paid subscribers, and the goal is to create a safe space where you can ask questions about the publishing industry/process, book publicity, and marketing. It’s also a space where you can share what you’re worried about in book publishing.
Please post your questions in the comments, and I will answer them throughout the day & weekend.
PLEASE READ THE RULES:
-If you are asking a question about YOUR book, please tell me a little bit about it, or my response will be, “It depends on the book…”
-I cannot answer questions via email. Please post your questions in the comments. You'll need to be a paid subscriber to do that.
-I can only provide ADVICE when I respond to specific questions, not definitive answers.
-This is a forum where questions are asked. It is not a forum to write lengthy commentary about your book or the publishing industry (or political beliefs, etc.). If you reply to someone’s question, do so in a helpful way.
-Be respectful to me and others. Everyone’s experience is different. Be kind. Unkind comments will not be tolerated.
-If I don’t know the answer, I will tell you and try to provide a resource where you might find it.
-Please don’t use the comments to self-promote. That’s not what this thread is about.
-There’s no such thing as a stupid question. We don’t know what we don’t know!
-Please be patient. I’ll pop in and out to answer you.
-The more context you provide, the better response I can give you.
-Please allow me the weekend to answer your questions. The deadline to post a question is Sunday night. After that, you’ll have to wait until the next edition of Book Therapy.
Please limit your questions to one comment so I can keep track of them and be fair to others.
-I have the least experience in YA and kids’ books, so I don’t feel comfortable advising that territory.
-This is a community effort, so others may chime in with their own knowledge.
Ready? Go!
-Kathleen
Thanks Kathleen for opening up this space for advice. My book, Lifeline, which is about the US government saving millions of lives of those with AIDS, is being published this October. My question: you write a lot about how it’s incredibly important to engage with your readers. But for first-time authors, how do you build this engagement? There’s social media channels/podcasts/events, but it still seems like too little. Grateful for your thoughts. John Donnelly
Hi Kathleen! I've just finished a novella and am at the stage of approaching agents (here in the U.K.), I'm drawing up a list of first, second and maybe even third tier to send the MS to to as have heard advice that it is a good idea to send out to circa ten agents see what comes back, make changes if needed (if I agree with them!), then send out to next tier, and repeat. Do you agree with this method firstly? (I am researching agents of course and basing my choices on aligned tastes and profiles.)
A second question is what do you think about a young agent who is building their list / new to a house, pros / cons?
Really any advice on this part of the process would be much appreciated. (The novella character-driven and is focused on family dynamics and consent and is circa 30,000 words, I've had one other book published previously but that was NF and very different.)