Robert Lawrence Holt - How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book

How to

PUBLISH, PROMOTE, AND SELL YOUR OWN BOOK

Robert Lawrence Holt

ST. MARTINS PRESS NEW YORK

HOW TO PUBLISH, PROMOTE, AND SELL YOUR OWN BOOK. Copyright 1985 by Robert Lawrence Holt. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue,

New York, N Y. 10010.

Design by Mina Greenstein

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Holt, Robert Lawrence.

How to publish, promote, and sell your own book.

1. Self-publishing. 2. Publishers and publishing. I. Title.

Z285.5.H63 1985 070.5 85-11748 ISBN 0-312-39618-X ISBN 0-312-39619-8 (pbk.)

How to Publish; Promote, and Sell Your Own Book is a new version, revised by the author, of Publishing for Schools, Small Presses, and Entrepreneurs, which was first published in 1982 by California Financial Publications.

Dedicated to the book people at Library Journal, Booklist, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications, who judge books on the basis of merit rather than the size of their publishers.

Contents

Glossary

Index

Preface

This book has been prepared because I found a need and filled it. I hope you can do the same.

For several years I conducted classes on the subject of How to Write, Publish, and Promote Books. This instruction normally lasted for ten weeks, one night a week for three hours. My students would frantically copy material projected onto a screenI used 137 transparencies during the class sessions.

At the close of each three-hour session, the students would have a mass of notes, not to mention cramped legs and sore writing hands. And after devoting a full evening to such instruction, I was usually too exhausted to accomplish much the following day.

In an effort to make the learning process easier for all concerned, I taped the entire thirty-hour presentation and transcribed the material into a manuscript. The resulting self-published book is offered as an optional text at my classes, which can now be compressed into a one-day workshop.

Nine months after the books publication, one of my three agents contacted St. Martins Press, which agreed to reprint the book. For those who might be interested in my other credentials, they are listed below.

1978 Hemorrhoids: A Cure and self-published Preventative

1979 Hemorrhoids: A Cure and Preventative (British) Commonwealth edition)

1980 Hemorrhoids: A Cure and Preventative

1980 Straight Teeth: Orthodontics for Everyone

1980 Bonds: How to Double Your Money Quickly and Safely

1981 Bonds: How to Double Your Money Quickly and Safely

1981 How Mothers and Others Stay Slim

1982 Hemorrhoids: A Cure and Preventative

1982 Publishing: A Complete Guide for Entrepreneurs

1983 Sweetwater: Gunslinger 201 (novel, movie rights sold)

1985 Bonds: How to Double Your Money Quickly and Safely

1985 How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book

Abacus Press reprint

William Morrow reprint

William Morrow 1st edition self-published

Harcourt Brace reprint (hardbound eduon) self-published

Editorial Limusa reprint

self-published

Aero Publishers 1st edition Harper & Row reprint (softbound edition) St. Martins Press reprint

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can read, M ARK TWAIN

The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business. JOHN STEINBECK

Should )>u Publish V&ur Book?

\

Why Publish Yo ur Book?

Having your manuscript published will change your life. You may believe youre going to get rich. Become famous. Or gain immortality.

If youve chosen a good subject and follow the advice in this book, you will get rich. However, your wealth may not be measured by the size of your bank account. Instead, you will become rich in other, more important ways. You will become an author. You may develop a new, more satisfying career. And you may become independent.

Becoming an Author

Would you like to feel the pride of seeing your book on the shelves of libraries and bookstores? Have you ever been asked for your autograph? Have strangers stared at you, as if youre somehow different from the crowd? You will be ... if you become an author. Its a license to be different, to be yourself, whatever that may be.

Wbats Your Motivation?

Jack Woodford, whom the Los Angeles Times called one of the foremost experts on how to write, states in his book Writer's Cramp: -

Today in a current newspaper column, I read that five million people in the United States are attempting to become writers, that

5,000 of them will get accepted, and that 50 of them make big returns at writing.

I think these figures are close to accurate. However, the non-sequitur is whopping.

These people arent trying to become writers. They are desperately trying to keep from becoming or being something else.

Is this your real motivation? If so, good. Its genuine.

Many writers seek immortality through their writing. This is possible whether your audience is to be millions, or simply your family. If this is your motive, fine. Its certainly worth a try. A well-written book can survive its author.

Being Independent

While were in this world, there are few of us who would not like to be successful working for ourselves. How long have you dreamed of being your own boss? Of working the hours you choose? Wherever you wish? Of once again tasting the freedom of your childhood?

This was Erie Stanley Gardners motivation. After escaping from a successful law practice, as he revealed in Secrets of the Worlds Best-Selling Writer, by Francis Fugate:

I took up writing, not because I felt any interior urge, but because I wanted some way to make a living where I could be out-of-doors a large portion of the daytime, and be master of my own time.

This motivation worked for him. He became the world's topselling author, with more than 300 million books sold.

So You Havent Submitted Your Manuscript Yet?

Even with a well-written manuscript, you will probably collect rejections, as did writers like Erie Stanley Gardner. One of his came from Harry C. North, editor of Black Mask magazine:

So far as One Profitable Nigbt goes, I can see no hope for it. I think it is awful, a mess, not worthy of a high school kid, one of the worseit's the kind of story I'm glad I didn't write. When I said there was no hope for it, I was a little hasty. 1 think there is a chance to salvage it, My suggestion would be that you nail it within arms-length of your toilet bowl. Another little dpthe next time you write a story like that, please type it on sand paper, lest I be tempted.

Act Out Your Fantasies

You may be thoroughly convinced that a New York publisher is going to offer you a six-figure advance for your manuscript, and that it will become a bestseller within the year. Then youll buy or build that fancy house youve dreamed of ever since you started writing.

Being a romantic and dreamer myself, Ill discourage you no longer. Go directly to Part II of this book, which describes how to prepare your manuscript for publication. Chapter 11 then explains how to submit your manuscript to a major publisher. Good luck!

Its not impossible to sell your manuscript to a New York publisher. Early in my writing career, William Morrow and Company purchased my second manuscript on the subject of orthodontics. You may be fortunate, too.

A Year Later

After youve indulged your fantasies of a large advance for your "best-selling manuscript, you may become convinced that editors in New York simply dont know a great manuscript when they see one.