Some wise, devil may care individual once said, "A full life entails thousands of mistakes. "Try telling that to the anal retentive types you're bound to encounter in so many occupations, and especially in book publishing. If you seek to get a book published you can't let yourself be daunted by these uptight beings that fear making mistakes more than anything else.
Don't let them torment you: They say no, even to very promising projects.
(Maybe there is something they abhor as much as making mistakes: Being proven wrong, which I suppose is simply being confronted with irrefutable proof you were mistaken about something. See my recent article: "You Hate Me, You Really, Really Do!")
For an intimate peek into the minds of the folks who judge book submissions, for a hint about what they're thinking as they appraise the "slush pile," the stack of unsolicited manuscripts they have to review, read Jeff Herman's frequently updated reference book, Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents.
Herman entices these functionaries to emote about what they're looking for in authors and book projects. Many share pet peeves, the sheer horror of seeing single spaced and not double spaced text, of being queried by phone, which I have found professionally gratifying, resulting in the placement of many of my books.
Oddly, even the iconoclasts in book publishing, the self-labeled rebels, suffer from a persnickety quality that is incredibly offensive to entrepreneurial, risk-taking personalities, such as yours truly.
The other day, for example, I scanned the web site of an offbeat, independent publishing house. To appreciate how bizarre many of their publications are, topics on their list include setting up your own methamphetamine lab and preparing for the impending revolution. Take my word for it, they are as close as you'll get to a close encounter with aliens in the terrestrial book world.
In reviewing their guidelines for writers you can see, in spite of their chattiness, they're not so interested in adopting your works as in abducting them, i.e. submitting them to the dreaded anal-retentive's probe.
Where does this leave the aspiring author, if by way of conventional publishing you're destined to be plagued by these mistake-a-phobic-probics?
It leaves you with one viable option: Self-publishing.
If you truly believe you have written something that is worth reading, that at least some folks will pay good money for, then go ahead, take a chance and publish a few dozen copies at Kinko's. Invest in a glossy post card-ad, mail it to a few hundred likely buyers, and see what sales you bring in. Or, pick up the phone and hustle a few copies that way.
Follow this tip: Guarantee reader satisfaction! Tell them they're going to love it.
Ask your purchasers for testimonials. Print and sell more copies.
When you have a track record of profitable sales you can return to the publishers you bypassed and ask them if they want to distribute your book.
Some might bite.
But if they don't, you will have proven your point, that your book is good, worthwhile, and salable. And that will uphold your dignity, which as any abducted author can attest, is precious and not for sale.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, sales, customer service, and negotiation consultant, and attorney. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than 1,000 articles and several popular audio and video programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he teaches at more than 40 university extension programs, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary's sales, management and consulting experience is combined with impressive academic credentials: A Ph.D. from USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies.
His web site is: http://www.customersatisfaction.com and he can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
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