What Kind Of Books Are Publishers Looking For

By Author: Raymond Sanders
Total Articles: 33
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If your goal is simply to get published, you have a better chance with nonfiction than fiction. Yes, I know--writing fiction is much more fun, but churning out a few nonfiction books can become your bread and butter, tiding you over until the world discovers you've also written the "World's Greatest Novel."
Major nonfiction publishing houses look for books whose topics are cutting edge today, which means that in roughly two years, masses of people will want to read them.
Why two years? Because that's about how long it takes a book to hit the shelves in bookstores after first being signed by an acquiring editor. In the publishing world, things often move as slowly as the shifting of the tectonic plates. Yet there are exceptions. Publishers may put a rush on topical books that would be outdated in two years--for example, those with political themes. Or they might make the publication date coincide with the release of a movie, to piggyback on the film's ad campaign.
Publishers that focus mainly on fiction have been in the news lately with horror tales of downsizing, mergers, and mass firings of employees. Compared ...
... to them, some nonfiction publishers have weathered the recession quite profitably. How? By addressing the public's needs. If people are anxious about their finances, the publisher puts out books on how to deal with stress or make the most of life's intangible rewards, instead of pursuing material success. I've edited lots of books like this recently, and their audience seems to be enormous. After the United States recovered from the trauma of 9/11, books on terrorism were popular for a while. Recently, many U.S. soldiers have written about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most big publishers will consider only agented submissions, and finding an agent is often the hardest part of getting published. If you are famous or have a track record, an agent or a publisher will probably take a chance on you before you've written an entire book. An outline and a chapter or two might be enough. But if you are unknown and without connections, in order to approach an agent or a publisher you will probably need a completed and professionally edited manuscript.
Yet nonfiction publishers often accept manuscripts that are a complete mess. The writing may be ungrammatical, the thoughts disjointed, a million and one problems could exist. In these cases, the publisher depends on a take-no-prisoners copy editor to do whatever is necessary. The in-house editors may even jump in and edit parts of the book. Why would a publisher go to this much trouble and expense? Because, for whatever reason, the publisher foresees a best-seller and is willing to pay extra to get the manuscript in publishable form.
Maybe the book exposes a controversial issue, or the author has her own TV show and could promote the book to millions of viewers. In light of potentially huge sales, the expense of paying a copy editor to do an extremely heavy edit is a mere pittance.
There are several options to consider when you try to market a book. If you are reading this, I'll assume you're not famous and you don't have an agent. Your first decision may be "Should I seek a publisher or self-publish?" If you truly have a grasp of where your book lies in the grand scheme of things and can honestly say that you know it will never be popular with a mass audience, then you may want to cut to the chase right now and self-publish, without suffering through what may be a futile attempt to find a publisher.
If, however, you have hopes that your book will hit the big time, then go for it. The question to ask yourself now becomes, "Should I first try all of the conventional ways to get a publisher, and if those fail, then what is the best way to self-publish?"
If you answered yes to trying the conventional route first, here is a simplified plan to get you started.
Step 1: I recommend reading Jeff Herman's Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents. (Disclosure: I was the copy editor for four editions of this book, ending with the 13th edition, but I was hired through a publisher, and I had no contact with Jeff Herman, except for writing queries to him in the books. I do not receive any financial or other remuneration for recommending his book.) He is primarily a nonfiction agent, so he explains the process of writing a query letter for agents, a book proposal, an outline, and sample chapters. His book will name names of who's who in the publishing world: people you will seek out and try to impress. This book goes into more depth than I possibly could, and I put you safely into his hands for guidance.
Step 2: If you've followed Jeff Herman's advice, yet still have not found an agent to represent you and to submit your manuscript to large publishers, you could forgo the agent and seek out small publishers. Usually, they will look at manuscripts from writers who don't have agents. Depending on the publisher, the requirements may be either an entire completed manuscript or only a query letter with a proposal, a chapter outline, and sample chapters. Take a notebook and a pen to the library, and be prepared to sit for a couple of hours paging through a thick reference book titled Literary Marketplace, which lists every publisher in the United States, the names of staff people, how many books a year that publisher puts out, what type of books it specializes in, and much more. Find publishers that publish books in the same category as yours, and write down the contact information for either an acquiring editor (first choice) or another person whose job title seems to include looking at new submissions. (Sometimes the staff is limited to only two or three people, so there may be no one called an acquiring editor.) Also, check to see whether the publisher accepts unagented submissions. If the publisher has a website, write down the address and visit the site later to check for specific submission guidelines. At this point, you can follow Jeff Herman's advice on writing a killer query letter and send it to the contact person whose name you copied down at the library. Repeat as often as necessary until you have exhausted all avenues in the small publisher realm.
Step 3: If, after submitting to small publishers, you still have not landed a contract and you are committed to your book, you should consider self-publishing. There are enough success stories about this path to the marketplace to keep hope alive for first-time authors.

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