A book deal is an agreement between a traditional royalty-based publisher and an author, by which the author agrees to write a book or a certain number of books to be published by the publisher.
Book deals for nonfiction business authors are becoming increasingly rare.
If you want to get published by a big-name traditional publisher like Simon & Schuster or McGraw-Hill, you are going to need an author’s platform. Editors at the big publishing houses in New York City tell me they don’t want to look at a book proposal for an author unless that author has a great platform. Agents don’t want to talk to you unless you have a great platform.
So, what the heck is that?
Platform is a catchphrase in the publishing world. It means you could reach out to an audience right now. It means you are the kind of author who could easily sell 10,000 or more copies in year one.
If you do not have a platform, you need a terrific plan on how you will build it soon.
Here are some elements:
Public speaking. You are regularly booked as a speaker.
Popular blog. You blog and people read you.
Podcast. You have fans who regularly listen to your podcasts.
Opt-in e-mail list. You have a large list of people who regularly receive your e-mail tips or articles.
YouTube. You have a significant YouTube subscriber list.
Business. You have an existing business with a big client or customer list of people who will buy your books.
If you want to attract high-paying clients, you need to be on YouTube.
If you are like me, you are going to YouTube as much as you are going to Google to search for answers.
Google is OK with that since they own YouTube.
To build platform, provide links to your live speaking engagements. This will help readers get more information about you in action. Media appearances are another major source of videos that build platform.
Indie Publishing Versus Self-Publishing: An Honest Comparison
Publishing a book is like building a house. Self-publishing is like being your own general contractor who must hire and manage all the subcontractors. Indie publishing is hiring a general contractor who already has an experienced and vetted team of subcontractors ready to go.
So, the choice is cobbling together your own team to publish a book or hiring an experienced team with a process to ensure success. There are many nitty-gritty details that go into publishing a book that represents you well.
As a self-published author, you’ll need to hire a number of professionals to get your book ready for sale. If you work with a publisher, they will take most of these tasks off your plate. Either way, remember, the author is always responsible for marketing the book. This is true with traditional publishing, indie publishing, and self-publishing.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, self-publishing may be for you. If all goes right, you can spend less money. However, mistakes can be costly, and you do not know what you do not know.
With self-publishing you get a bigger share of the royalties and the lowest author price on the book. With an indie published book, you get the major share of the royalties, and the hope is with their help you will sell more books and make more money overall.
But please, if you go the self-publishing route, do not say your book is self-published. That is a marketing kiss of death. Instead, create a publishing house name and make the book appear as if it were published by a third party. This is marketing advice, not legal advice.