law@pecnos.UUCP (Steve Law) (07/19/86)
I am writing my first book and I would like some advice on how to get
it published. Following are my specific questions:
1. What are the respectable publishers for computer reference
books? What is your experience with them?
2. When should I contact these publishers? Should I wait until
the first draft of my book is complete?
3. What are the things that I can negotiate with the publisher?
Any other advice/suggestion is welcome. Thank you for your help.
Steve Law
ihnp4!petsd!lawchuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) (07/23/86)
> I am writing my first book and I would like some advice on how to get > it published. Following are my specific questions: > 1. What are the respectable publishers for computer reference > books? What is your experience with them? You don't say what kind of book it is. Are you writing another Unix introduction book? A macintosh or PC book? A text book on data communications? Different publishers have different interests or specialties, and won't even look at certain niches. If you're doing PC or Mac books, for instance, Microsoft Books or Sybex would be good choices, as they both market good material to these markets and they have some quality books in their lists. For text books and the lower volume technical market, Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall might be better choices. Everyone is doing Unix books, but you want to stay away from publishers that seem to be turning out dogs lest your book be given the same moniker... > 2. When should I contact these publishers? Should I wait until > the first draft of my book is complete? Each publisher is different. Your best bet would be to find a copy of "Writers Market 86" by Writers digest books. Most publishers will have entries that explain their submission preferences and needs. In general, three forms of submission are used: o Send in the entire draft. o Send an outline and some sample chapters. Typically a detailed outline of the content, the first three chapters and one other chapter. It is cheaper than mailing the entire thing, you can send it out before you're done with the entire book, and you'll usually hear back sooner than an entire manuscript. You WON'T normally get a contract out of it, just an indication whether they want to see the whole thing or not. But at least they'll turn you down sooner. o Send a query. If you aren't sure what to do, do this. One or two pages that describe what the book is about and why you are qualifified to writer it. Writers Market is critical as a resource to find out who to send it to. > 3. What are the things that I can negotiate with the publisher? For a first book, not much. If you find a publisher interested in buying the book, I suggest you find an agent to do the negotiation for you. There are lots of writers willing to pay (literally, just ask the subsidy publisher market) to have their works in print, so it is a buyers market. > Any other advice/suggestion is welcome. Thank you for your help. It sounds as if you haven't researched the market very well yet. Before you write a book, see if there is anyplace interested in seeing it. Writers market is a starting place, as is their monthly magazine "Writers digest" Do some research into what it takes to be a writer as opposed to writing a book, and see if you really want to do it. Writing a book sounds like a lot of fun until you get halfway through and the rent check is due. Dave Smeds had a great line on this: Writing is the only business in the world that makes taking out the garbage look like more fun. chuq -- Chuq Von Rospach chuq%plaid@sun.COM CompuServe: 73317,635 {decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!sun!plaid!chuq O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim Of Brahamana and recluse the honoured name! For, quarrelling, each to his view they claim, Such folk see only one side of a thing. -- Buddha -- The Elephant and the Blind Men
jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) (07/23/86)
> I am writing my first book and I would like some advice on how to get > it published. Following are my specific questions: > Get an agent. -- John Oswalt (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid,ihnp4}!pesnta!valid!jao)
gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst) (07/24/86)
> 1. What are the respectable publishers for computer reference > books? What is your experience with them? If you don't know the answer to this from your own reading and observation, then are you sure you should be writing such a book? However, almost any large publisher is likely to be interested. Addison-Wesley, McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall, . . . (and even some without hyphenated names). Avoid Springer-Verlag. Morgan Kaufmann are building an excellent list, though they concentrate mainly on AI and databases; they make a point of being author-friendly, and are rapidly gaining a reputation in their (narrow) domain. The text-book reps who stalk college halls pressing their wares on professors are also always on the lookout for books to publish. If you aren't working at a college, ask an instructor you know to tell you who his local reps are. > 2. When should I contact these publishers? Should I wait until > the first draft of my book is complete? No. (1) You are unlikely to present a publisher with exactly what they want unless you find out in advance. (2) The publisher will offer you lots of helpful advice as you work. Send out a prospectus that tells what the book will be like, and who the potential readers are. Include a draft table of contents and a few sample pages, or an outline of the book (100-200 words per chapter). > 3. What are the things that I can negotiate with the publisher? Anything, but unless you are dealing with a small publisher (or they want you very badly), you will mainly talk about royalties (as a percentage of publisher's net receipts -- 15% is about normal), the number of free copies you will get (ask for 20 and hope for 10), who will pay for copyright permissions, research expenses and the like (normally, you), how much of your royalties you receive in advance, etc. If you foresee big bucks or tough negotiations, you could try to find an agent who will (in return for a cut of the action) take you on. Unlikely to be a good idea in academic or technical publishing (or any other time if the agent is no good). > Any other advice/suggestion is welcome. Thank you for your help. The smaller the publisher, the more help you will get and the more clout you will have -- but you may also get poorer distribution. On the other hand, a large publisher may, despite their better distribution and sales reps, fail to give your book the attention it deserves if they feel they have other items they want to push harder. -- \\\\ Graeme Hirst University of Toronto Computer Science Department //// utcsri!utai!gh / gh.toronto@csnet-relay / 416-978-8747
credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (07/24/86)
In article <486@valid.UUCP> jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) writes: >> I am writing my first book and I would like some advice on how to get >> it published. Following are my specific questions: >> >Get an agent. As the author of two books (one published 1985, one due out in a few months) I strongly disagree with this suggestion. For one thing, I am dubious that any reputable agent would take on a previously unpublished author. I have now lost track of exactly what questions the original postert was asking, but I think he should start by looking in two books which will be available in the nearest public library: Writer's Market and Literary Marketplace. Both have lists of publishers as well as a fair amount of general information for authors. The best procedure probably is to hunt up the names and addresses of small to middle-sized publishing companies who specialize in the kind of thing you have written. This can be done through the two books I have just mentioned; through a large book whose name I can't remember off-hand, but which will also be in many libraries, which amounts to a compilation of last year's catalogues from dozens of publishers; and, best of all, through looking at books in fields something like the one you have in mind. (If they've successfully published one book about South American archaeology, they'll probably know how to go about marketing another one, etc.) Write brief letters to a few of those publishers, describing what you've written and what your qualifications are for writing it, and asking whether they would like to see an outline or a sample chapter or a full manuscript. Don't expect a very lucrative contract for your first book, and don't expect much bargaining power with your publisher. That comes later, if ever. Most publishers are pretty marginal businesses -- let's face it, neither McGraw-Hill nor Prentice-Hall is likely to publish your first book.
kpc@duke.UUCP (Kim P. Collins) (07/25/86)
I saw that 15% royalties (85% publisher?) is about standard. Does anyone else think that this is outrageous? Are there any publishers that have a quality reputation and give higher royalties? Or does it really cost that much for all publishers? xw
peterson@milano.UUCP (07/28/86)
In article <8189@duke.duke.UUCP>, kpc@duke.UUCP (Kim P. Collins) writes: > I saw that 15% royalties (85% publisher?) is about standard. > Does anyone else think that this is outrageous? > Are there any publishers that have a quality reputation and > give higher royalties? Or does it really cost that much for > all publishers? Rates can vary widely according to publisher, type of book, and market. For college-level textbooks, my experiences have been that 15%-16% is "normal", but I had offers as low as 12%. To get a higher royalty rate required either doing more (like providing a computer tape all set up for typesetting or even doing the typesetting yourself -- and I mean typesetting not dot-matrix or laser printer output). The other possibility that you might consider is a changing scale according to sales. For example, take 12% for the first 5,000 per year, then 16% for the next 5,000; 18% for the next 5,000 and 20% for any more. I assume that publishers mainly make money for their "best-sellers" and lose money on the non-sellers (one of my books sold 72 copies the first year). So they have to pay for the losers with the income from their winners. A sliding royalty rate says that you won't cost them as much if your book doesn't sell (you take the loss not them), but in return you should profit if it does sell. Also remember that the royalty rate is not for list price, but only the publisher's income which is typically 75% - 80% of list. So for a 15% rate on a $20 book, the author gets 15% of $16 or $2.40 per book. Computer Science Press made its position in CS/EE college texts by offering royalty rates of up to 24%. -- James Peterson peterson@mcc.arpa or ...sally!im4u!milano!peterson
jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) (07/28/86)
[...] The following is based on a conversation with a Canadian publisher in 1976. The situation may have changed and may be different in other countries. The retail price of a book is usually set at 5 times the cost of creating the physical book (printing, paper, binding, etc.). Thus we have: 20%: material costs The mark-up on a book is 100%. Therefore, the retailer gets 50% of the retail price. This may seem steep, but books do not have a fast turnover, and it is necessary to carry large slow-moving inventories. Anyway... 50%: retailer's cut The author gets 10-15% of retail price for hard cover books (less on mass market paperbacks). 15%: author's royalty Amount left for the publisher: 15%, and this has to cover the cost of distribution, publicity, editor salaries, design (e.g. paying an artist to draw a cover), and so on. Now most of these jobs (editing, design, etc.) are one-shot deals; distribution is the only continuing expense. Thus if the book sells well, the publisher comes out ahead; however, if the book does not sell, the publisher loses money, because the expenses have to be paid regardless of number of books sold. MORAL: If a book sells well, publishing is profitable. If not...I don't know about other countries, but in Canada, almost all our publishers are just scraping by. (The exception is Harlequin, which is something of a mixed blessing.) Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo
hoffman@hdsvx1.UUCP (Richard Hoffman) (07/28/86)
Kim Collins states: > I saw that 15% royalties (85% publisher?) is about standard. Does > anyone else think that this is outrageous? The author of a book has no recurring publication costs. That is, for each book sold, the publisher has to pay printing, distribution, marketing and overhead, whereas the author gets a free ride -- especially if he got paid for writing the book itself. In light of these costs, the 15-85 split seems fairly reasonable. -- Richard Hoffman | "If you take a starving dog from the street Schlumberger Well Services | and make him prosperous, the dog will not hoffman%hdsvx1@slb-doll.csnet | bite you. This is the principle difference PO Box 2175, Houston, TX 77252 | between a dog and a man." -- M. TWAIN
nobi@mtuxo.UUCP (m.juliar) (07/28/86)
Fifteen per cent to the author as royalties? That is outrageous from almost any publisher's point of view. Unless your name is Norman Mailer or Danielle Steele (to cover a spectrum), you will get 10% royalties, or in some cases, less. The next question of course is 10% of what. It often is 10% of the normal selling price of the book by the bookstore-- that is, what you would pay for it at Waldenbooks, for example. Some publishers push for 10% of their selling price--that is, the wholesale price--to the bookstore or the book distributor. It all boils down to getting what you can get, as in any contract negotiation. An experienced contracts lawyer who knows publishing can help, but then that is a lawyer. There are author leagues and guilds and cooperatives which give guidelines to new authors on negotiating with publishers. Look in the LMP, the Literary Market Place, available in any library and published every year.
mazlack@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Lawrence J. Mazlack) (07/28/86)
In article <8189@duke.duke.UUCP> kpc@duke.UUCP (Kim P. Collins) writes: >I saw that 15% royalties (85% publisher?) is about standard. Does anyone else think that this is outrageous? Are there any publishers that have a quality reputation and give higher royalties? Or does it really cost that much for all publishers? 15% is pretty standard for paper-bound texts that they expect to sell a lot of (at least 5,000). Sometimes, hard-backs only get 12%, but this is becoming more rare. If your book is expected to sell more than 20,000 you should be able to get at least 18%. Normally, first time authors can expect to get no more than 15%. The largest that I have heard of is 22% - but this was for a book that went over 80,000 copies on the first edition - the 22% was for the second edition. I don't think that it is outrageous. The publishers front end costs are high (editing, typesetting, aquisiton, clerical, etc.). If I understand it correctly, they don't break even until about 8,000 copies have been sold. (Sold, not used books, not books that were given to a professor and then sold to the used book people.) ...Larry Mazlack mazlack@ernie.berkeley.edu
gdykes@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (Gene Dykes) (07/29/86)
15% ?
Be glad that you are not trying to have a portfolio of pictures
published as a calendar. Try 0.1% !!! Honest. You get 1 cent
for every ten dollar calendar sold. (Landmark Calendars)
--
Gene Dykes, 120 Rand Hall, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY 14853 (607)255-6713
{ihnp4,decvax,allegra,vax135}!cornell!batcomputer!gdykesmab@riacs.ARPA (Matt Bishop) (07/29/86)
In article <206@watmath.UUCP>, credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) writes: > For one thing, I am dubious that any reputable agent would take on > a previously unpublished author. Sorry, that's simply not true. There are reputable literary agents who do take on unpublished authors (my mother is one.) What matters is the quality of writing, not publications. In general, authors who deal with publishers directly may not get so good a deal as those who deal with literary agents -- since the latter do that all the time, they have a lot more experience than most authors do. More- over, editors get to know literary agents, and if the agent is a good one, editors will pay more attention to manuscripts that agent sends than to unsolicited manuscripts. But I'm biased -- my dad's a writer and always worked through literary agents, and (as I said) my mom's a literary agent. Matt Bishop ARPA: mab@riacs.arpa UUCP: {decvax!decwrl,ihnp4!ames}!riacs!mab
chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) (07/29/86)
> In article <206@watmath.UUCP>, credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) writes: > > For one thing, I am dubious that any reputable agent would take on > > a previously unpublished author. > > Sorry, that's simply not true. There are reputable literary agents who > do take on unpublished authors (my mother is one.) What matters is the > quality of writing, not publications. I can second this. My father has worked with a couple of agents who have put in a good part of their timegetting his manuscripts read. Some agents won't deal with unknowns, but many more will -- after all, it is the unknown author that can turn into the really big paycheck down the road. > In general, authors who deal with publishers directly may not get so good > a deal as those who deal with literary agents -- since the latter do that > all the time, they have a lot more experience than most authors do. More- > over, editors get to know literary agents, and if the agent is a good > one, editors will pay more attention to manuscripts that agent sends > than to unsolicited manuscripts. Many publishers will suggest heavily that you get an agent when they tell you they want to buy a book and you don't already have one. They may well suggest a couple of names that they have worked with. Believe it or not, this is in everyone's favor. For the author, the agent will get the best possible deal without sinking the contract. They know what is and isn't negotiable, and what to give in on. On the publisher's side, they won't have to deal with someone who may make impossible demands because they simply don't know any better. They want to buy the book, and they want to be fair about it, but there some some things that they have to kill the contract over rather than buy it, so working with an agent to them means that they have a better chance of actually getting things closed up. An agent can also deal with things like subsidiary and foreign rights and build entire markets for the book that an author wouldn't know existed. Look at it this way: you don't want your programmers doing Marketing, and you don't want your publicity people doing programming. This deliniation is quite apt for the author/agent relationship as well. Authors are usually best at writing, agents at selling. Every minute you spend on the phone arguing over a contract is a minute you aren't putting words to a page. In my eye, agents more than pay for themselves. chuq -- Chuq Von Rospach chuq%plaid@sun.COM CompuServe: 73317,635 {decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!sun!plaid!chuq O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim Of Brahamana and recluse the honoured name! For, quarrelling, each to his view they claim, Such folk see only one side of a thing. -- Buddha -- The Elephant and the Blind Men