New authors are often surprised to find out how tough it is to get a book contract from a traditional publisher. They think just because they wrote a great book, publishers will be clamoring for it.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Publishers have a limit on the number of books they publish each year, and they are very picky about the ones they choose. And because so many authors are trying to get their attention, traditional publishers don’t even deal with authors. Instead, they rely on agents to send them books they think might do well. So if you think you can just send your book to a publisher, think again. They’re not going to read it.
Instead, you have to write a query. This is a letter introducing you and your book to agents. Then you have to research agents to find ones that represent your genre, or the type of book you’re writing. You also have to write a book proposal, which is a more detailed introduction to your book that includes a marketing plan and several finished chapters. Book proposals can run around fifty pages or longer. They are complicated and usually take months to prepare.
After you query your selected agents, you wait. You may or may not hear back from them. Agents get hundreds, sometimes thousands of queries every week. Your query could sit in their inbox for weeks. It may never even get read. Perhaps an assistant will skim it and decide whether it’s promising enough to pass on to the agent.
If the agent likes it, they may request a book proposal. If they like the proposal, they may agree to represent you to traditional publishers. If they find a publisher that’s interested in your book, you might get a contract. You negotiate for a better contract, and when you all agree on the terms, you get an advance and a deadline for finishing your book. This whole process can take months. Once you finish your book—maybe a year or two later—and submit it to your agent, and after everyone’s happy with the content, you will probably wait another year before it’s published. Pending the availability of launch dates, of course.
The delays can be frustrating, but at least you have someone in your corner, your agent, doing everything they can to get you the best deal and help you put out the best book, right?
Not exactly. Agents are busy. Like, really busy. They work with many authors, including authors who have already proven themselves with books that have sold well. Those authors will get more of the agent’s time.
More importantly, the people actually keeping the agents in business are publishers. Agents want to make publishers happy so they’ll keep working with them—and paying them. See, even though the agent’s 15 to 20 percent comes from the author’s advance, it’s publishers putting up the cash. An agent’s whole career relies on the strong relationships they develop with publishers, not any individual author, so they can continue getting authors signed and keep collecting their percentages.
How Scribe Is Different
If traditional publishing sounds complicated, it is. For a very small percentage of authors, it’s the right approach, and I’ll have more to say about that select group in a future blog.
But for most authors, traditional publishing can be a long, drawn-out maze that leads…nowhere. Between the gatekeepers and paperwork, it can feel as if the industry is doing you a big fat favor even considering your book and you owe them the world for being one of the chosen few to get published. Many authors get so sick of jumping through all the hoops that they give up, and their awesome book never sees the light of day! I can’t stand that.
Scribe doesn’t like gatekeepers, paperwork, or hoops. We work directly with authors to get your books written, edited, and published on your schedule, not ours. When you work with us, we won’t ask you for a query letter or a book proposal. We won’t ask you for a list of agents, and you won’t have to pitch your book to anybody. While other authors are waiting around for some New York City agent to send them a rejection letter, we’re already working with you to write the book of your dreams and publish it on your schedule.
You know your book. You know your audience—your future readers. And you know your book deserves to be out in the world, doing its job. Not languishing in someone’s inbox, unread, and getting more dated by the minute. Where traditional publishers are littered with roadblocks, Scribe is like the publishing autobahn. No speed limits, baby. If you want control of your book’s timeline and future success, we’ll help you get there.
You choose your launch date. You call the shots. Instead of waiting to be judged, selected, or rejected by the traditional publishing world, you and Scribe get to work manifesting destiny—and shortening the time to publish to a year or less.
Do you want to pursue the traditional publishing path, knowing it will be years before anyone reads a single word of your book? Or is it time to jump on the Scribe highway? If you want to see your book in print within the next year or two, you already know the answer.
