Is Self-Publishing an Impediment to Landing a Publishing Contract?

Authors sometimes ask if self-publishing their book will hurt or help their chances of landing a contract with a traditional publisher. In today's guest post, Stephanie Gunning, a former senior editor at Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, shares her expertise on this topic.

Often self-publication is meant to be an interim step to finding a mainstream publisher. But if the author publishes his book independently or through a print-on-demand company, is it still be possible to sell it to a traditional publisher later on? Could he ruin his chances by bringing the book to market himself?

Unlike the sure thing of hiring a printer, you have to pitch a publisher. Traditional publishers are businesses that operate on the bottom-line of profit and loss. Executives try to avoid unnecessary risks, so they want proof you can succeed. When they consider a book for acquisition, they don’t care where it came from—they care where it has the potential to go.

For better or worse, self-publishing leaves marks. If you already sold a bunch of copies, they want to know if you tapped the entire market or just a tiny piece of it. They know your resources are less than theirs; therefore expectations for your sales volume are low. This can be a wonderful thing (from their perspective), as it means you won’t have polluted the marketplace with ineffective marketing efforts. But even more wonderful is if you did succeed in selling tons of copies.

If you had success, think of what they could do! They might see it as a sign that you are the luckiest monkey on the planet, or you have a following, your book idea is fantastic, and you’re a smart salesman. When making their decision of which author to partner with, the smart salesman with a good book is most appealing. If you want to take your book to a traditional publisher, you must prepare a solid marketing plan no matter whether you are or are not yet published. And you must learn how to be a smart salesman for yourself. Prove it.

The marketing plan in the book trade is known as a book proposal. This document resembles the kind of business proposal you would give to investors in that it spells out who you are, what you are doing to make this project viable, who you think the consumer is, and why you believe you can pull it off. The document is a promise of your actions and intentions, and it communicates your authority over your subject matter. (Yes, that’s where the word “author” comes from.)

While the quality of your book must be high, the text of a book by itself is usually not sufficient to generate a book contract. You also need to demonstrate your expertise and how well your intended audience knows you. You can skip drafting a marketing plan as a self-published author since you’re the boss, but you shouldn’t—at least not if you ultimately want to attract a publisher. Self-published authors who operate like businesspeople have an easier time winning book contracts.

Stephanie Gunning is a bestselling author, editor, and publishing consultant who coaches authors on how to get book deals. A former senior editor at Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, she’s mastered the art of transforming powerful ideas into highly marketable books. For information, visit www.stephaniegunning.com.

Comments

[Sharon E. Dreyer]

Great article! Thank you so much for sharing the wealth of information!

[Dana Lynn Smith]

So glad you found it helpful Sharon. It's wonderful to have experts like Stephanie to share with us here on Book Marketing Maven!
Dana

[Fiona Ingram]

Dana, I love your newsletters and the wealth of information you share with your readers. Great article. I am self-published and this has given me such insight into how to 'leap the gap' to a traditional publisher.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Fiona, I'm so glad you found Stephanie's article and my ezine helpful. I wish you much success with your book! Regards, Dana