Thrive in the Quiet Holidays

For over nine years, I’ve been an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, a New York publisher. The two other publishers where I acquired books did not have publication board meetings in November or December. No meetings meant few books were contracted during the holidays. In fairness to my editorial colleagues at publishing houses, they are involved in special activities during the holiday season. For example, one publisher where I worked sent Christmas cards with signatures and well-wishes from the editors. We had numerous authors and I recall spending an entire day signing these cards for the various authors.

For several years, I ran my own literary agency. Just like clockwork, I experienced these slow or no responses every November and December. It is like much of book publishing comes to a screeching halt during these months. In a long-term pattern, Morgan James closes the last two weeks of every year and opens the Monday after New Year’s Day.

If you want to get published, what actions related to your publishing dreams do you take during the holidays? Do you put everything on pause for two months? Yes, you can certainly take a break but I want to encourage you to continue to move forward.

When comedian Joan Rivers died years ago, in a television interview Rivers revealed one of her scariest prospects: an empty calendar. If you want to write and sell books in 2022 and beyond, I encourage you to take control of your calendar during this lull in publishing.

Here are six ideas to fill your schedule:

1. Purchase a book on proposal creation such as Book Proposals That Sell then study it. Every author needs a book proposal or business plan for their book—even if you are self-publishing and whether you are writing fiction or children’s books or nonfiction. A complete book proposal is often a 30-to-50-page document which involves a lot of effort and work. I encourage you to get my free book proposal checklist at: Book Proposals That Sell.
2. Take an online course such as Write A Book Proposal and create better proposals.
3. Attend a free teleseminar answering author questions about proposal creation at Ask About Proposals.
4. Plan to write some shorter magazine articles in your area of expertise. The publishing experience will help you catch the attention of an editor or agent. A magazine article can reach more people than a book and can help you promote your book when it is published.
5. Decide to attend a writer’s conference in the Spring of 2022. Begin now to target meetings with faculty members (editors and agents).
6. Set aside specific time each day to write new proposals and query letters. To write a complete book proposal isn’t done overnight. It takes consistent effort.

            If you aren’t selling your book ideas, then you need to take action to approach more people and knock on more doors. Create your action plans during these quiet months and your next year will be positioned for success.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. The revised and updated edition released in October. You can get a free book proposal checklist. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.