| Getting That First
Book Published John Willig, who has been in the publishing industry for 25 years, told writers to "think broader than your story and your book." He encouraged emerging writers to participate in writing workshops, gain media contacts, and perform public readings of their works. Willig offered some staggering statistics: Only 50 books sell 1 million or more copies out of the 70,000 books published per year. "You essentially have three seconds to connect with the person in the bookstore," Willig said. He recommended test-marketing ideas and proposals before attempting to publish a book and told writers to get as much money for a book advance as possible. Vivian Chern, an author of murder mysteries, stressed finding a book agent to help writers publish their first books. "Don't get too attached to your work…if you're a good writer, you can write anything, and work with your agent to produce a really marketable book, " she said. John Montelone, winner of the PBS Television award, said agents can be expensive for first-time authors and quipped: "What is an agent but a benevolent parasite?" Anthony Buccino, author of "A Father's Place," offered an alternative to publishing companies and book agents. Buccino is a self-published author who advertises his books on the Internet and has customers order and a print a copy of his book on demand. "Writing the book is the easy part. Marketing and promotion is hard," Buccino said. One of the most common mistakes writers make is to believe that everyone wants to read his/her book, he said, urging writers to do marketing homework, write about topics that interest people, and, most of all, have confidence in their own work. "Keep writing, because if you stop writing you're never going to have a book to put out, " Buccino said. David Sitory, whose book "Hit Men and the Kid who Batted Ninth" will be in bookstores soon, warned, "publisher's don't talk, they tell you what's happening." Spurned by publishers, Sitory went back to his journalism roots and contacts for help. He promoted the idea of his book on television and in conferences, generating enough interested to have his book picked up by a publishing house. "Get into it knowing that you have to hustle," Sitory stated. William Cook, a healthcare administrator by profession, decided to publish his first novel a few years ago but his agent told him to start with a smaller project. He decided to publish his first book on the popular topic of sports. Cook told novice authors to get an agent and consider what topic their first book will be about. "Keep writing and deal with rejection. Art is painful," he said. |
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