Why Publishers Prefer Proposals

When you submit your materials, editors, agents and publishing executives prefer to read a well-crafted proposal instead of a full-length manuscript. For several years, I’ve been an acquisitions editor or the first person to read the proposal or manuscript that comes into the publishing house. I’ve interfaced with the publisher’s existing authors and talked with them about new projects. I’ve also championed many first-time authors’ proposals inside the publishing house, presented them to the publication board (the decision-making body in most houses), worked up the financial figures (an internal document which no one sees outside the publishing house), then negotiated with the author or their agent on the final contract. I have firsthand, insider knowledge about the consideration process and can give you a glimpse at how your proposal will be processed and handled.

As you think about approaching a traditional publisher, keep these points in mind:

If the publisher has been in business for some time, a key and regular part of their acquisition’s strategy is to return to their existing authors (provided these books are selling well) and ask these authors for additional projects.

If a publisher has a book with an author who has been consistently selling in the market, they have less risk of publishing another book from this same author and sell it to the audience. Like many other businesses, publishing is about managing risk. To take a completed 60,000-word manuscript and produce it into a book will cost the publisher anywhere between $25,000 and $50,000. This number isn’t a typographical error. Recently I attended the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors in New York City. One of the participants on a panel about book proposals was Brian DiForio, a New York literary agent who is a former editorial director for some major publishers. He presented to the conference some even higher production numbers, saying,

“Even with a modest advance of $20,000 to $30,000, the overall costs for the publisher are between $75,000 and $100,000. You are proposing a business decision like any proposal to a bank.”

Brian DiForio

These numbers do not include marketing or advertising expenses nor do they account for a large advance for the author (which increases the risk for the publisher). The number is pure production costs, editorial expenses and design costs for the cover and interior pages of the book.

Publishers make this type of financial investment in an author with care, forethought and wisdom—especially if they want to stay in the book business for many years.

If you are writing nonfiction children’s books, the above figure doubles. When I mention this information at a writers’ conference, I can hear the visible gasps in the room. Many parents have read stacks of 24- or 32-page full-color books to their children. They’ve seen few words on the page and probably believed they could have easily written a better book. They don’t realize, however, that the production numbers for these books can vary from $150,000 to $200,000. The reason for these costs is because when it comes to children’s books, the publisher normally purchases full rights from the artist to whoever owns the artwork in these books. In general, these artists/illustrators do not receive a royalty for their work, only a flat fee, and that price adds to the production expense.

Before I began working inside a book publishing house, I had written more than 50 nonfiction books, ranging from children to adult books. I had always worked through traditional publishers. However, I was unaware of the financial production numbers for book production, and I found it shocking—and something critical for potential authors to understand. The author never sees these figures for their books as the publisher doesn’t reveal them throughout the contract negotiation process. A publisher will produce these financial calculations as simply a part of good business practices. As an author, understanding this helped me see publishing as a business. Authors have huge amounts of time and emotional investment in their words. When I saw these production numbers, I understood that the publisher, not the author, has the largest out-of-pocket cash investment in a book.

Inside the publisher, the editor will gather a sales projection about how many copies the sales department believes they can sell of your title the first year.

That sales figure will be used to calculate the production costs of ink, paper and binding for various amounts of printing (5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 copies). As the initial print number is raised, the cost per book decreases. You may ask, so why not print a large volume each time? The answer is, if the publisher prints a large number of copies, then he has to store those copies in their warehouse (read cost and expense), plus make sure they actually sell those copies within a year’s timeframe. The cost of tying up financial resources in storing and warehousing books can become expensive. Also, the federal government taxes publishers on each copy in storage. These tax rules have forced publishers to think long and hard about how many copies of each book to print.

Inside my former publisher, we calculated the overall printing details of the book (paperback with general publishing look or hardcover with jacket) and the number of books to print before offering a book contract. In short, publishers pour a great deal of work into their books and financial projections before they call you and offer a book contract. Understanding this process helps you see some of the reasons it takes such a long time for an author to receive a publishing contract.

I know I took a brief aside to explain about the inner workings inside a publishing house. Now let’s return to my original point about book acquisition. Often the publisher returns to an author with whom they have already published a book. If the publisher takes a second or third book from the same author, they are investing in that author’s career and trying to build that author’s audience and market. If the author’s books are selling well, then the publisher will be eager for another project. Each week, publishers monitor sales numbers on their books to see if particular authors merit another book contract.

Many writers focus only on the creative aspects of writing a book and getting it published, but the executives inside a publishing house are businesspeople who want to sell books and turn a profit at the end of the day. It’s a delicate balance between creating the best possible product and assuring that each product has the best opportunity to sell into the market and reach the target audience. Book proposals are a critical tool in the decision making process and every writer needs to create one.

WW. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. 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. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Get a free copy of his proposal book (follow the link). Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.