1. Candice (who is obviously not well, since she said that she reads my blog faithfully) noted that her book proposals are sometimes rejected because they are too much like other books that have already been published. She asked, "How can we get around that?"

That’s funny, since I recently noted that publishers have a tendency to look for things they are comfortable with — something similar to what they are already publishing. But my guess here is that you either (a) have had the bad timing of showing around an idea similar to someone else’s recent idea, or (b) are showing around an idea that just isn’t fresh. Because in general publishers look for ideas they already know how to sell. Make sure you’re not chasing a trend, because by the time a publishing trend has been identified, the momentum for that trend is probably already gone.

2. Tracy wrote to ask, "How do we obtain sales figures?"

ABA retailers have a software program called BookScan that reveals recent and lifetime sales for all titles, though it only accounts for participating stores, and the Big Box stores like Wal-Mart aren’t included. CBA has its own program, called STATS, that offers some of the same information from CBA retailers. Within most publishing houses, there is a decidedly mixed attitude about the usefulness and accuracy of those numbers. If you  ask your editor, he or she can try to get you sales figures, though there is no guarantee. (That said, your publisher ought to be able to furnish you with THEIR OWN sales numbers…I’ve never understood a publisher’s reluctance to share accurate and timely sales figures with the author of the book.) Sometimes you can take an educated stab by doing some research or by emailing friends — editors at various houses will often call each other to ask for accurate sales numbers of books. And if you can’t get them for your proposal, leave them off. Better to ignore sales numbers than to guess and get them wrong.

3. As a follow up, Pam asked if writers should do comparisons of picture books.

In my view, that’s an easy yes. Showing comparable titles helps a publishing house type your book proposal, giving them an advance organizer when they begin discussing it.

4. Another question referenced a blog interview I did a few days ago. In that interview, I told the story of Elizabeth Kostova, the author of THE HISTORIAN with Little, Brown. I was an associate publisher with Time Warner (a sister company to L/B), and I told everyone that Kostova’s manuscript was in-house for nearly two years. That allowed editors, marketers, and sales people to get excited about her novel, and really build a lot of buzz for it. THE HISTORIAN holds a unique place in publishing history — it’s the only time a first-timer has debuted at #1 on the New York Times Fiction Bestseller list. Someone asked regarding that situation, "Was that buzz created by the author, agent, publisher or a combination?"

The incredible buzz surrounding that book was due to a combination of factors. First, Kostova had an incredibly fresh idea. Second, she wrote a wonderful book. Third, she worked with her editor, and let the manuscript work its way around. Fourth, the marketing people really did their homework, making sure the book was reviewed everywhere, and was getting all sorts of happy talk on the web and in print. Fifth, the publisher didn’t feel they had to be in a hurry to get it published. (A lesson I’d like more CBA houses to explore. Too many Christian novels are raced into production, thereby not leaving much room to either correct errors or built momentum.)

5. After my discussion of Christian fiction last week, Mark wrote to ask, "(In CBA novels,) Do characters need to be Christian? Do they talk Jesus a lot? Does the conflict resolve with conversion? Does the story need to evangelize the reader?"

No, no, no, and no. Or at least "not necessarily." When I say "Christian ficiton," I’m basically referencing novels that are created by Christian readers, largely for the Christian market. The novels may contain characters who are and are not Christians. Many don’t "talk Jesus" very much, though I think most have a redemptive message. Rarely do many modern novels resolve with a conversion, since that can seem trite (or, if you prefer, it’s too easy to have the conflict resolved by having the nemesis suddenly announce that he’s repenting and becoming a nice Christian). And while some novelists probably write to evangelize readers, in my experience few of the good novelists do. The goal is to write a great story — a story that reveals characters I care about, in interesting situations, struggling with the deeper questions of life and making decisions…decisions that are not always correct or easy to evaluate, so as the reader I am forced to reflect on my own choices.

What you seem to be asking about is the difference between a parable and story. Or perhaps you’re just viewing art from a utilitarian point of view ("If I’m a Christian writing a story, I need to write a religious story that preaches the Gospel"). That’s not a view I ascribe to. Art doesn’t need a utility. It doesn’t need to "represent" something else. We don’t need to paint "John 3:16" on a watercolor in order to make it worthwhile. Writing is a way of creating beauty, of helping to understand our selves and our world. Good Christian art, in my view, springs from the lives of Christians. It will probably, in some measure, reflect a Christian worldview. So I can see a Christian novel where there are no overt Christian characters, they don’t talk Jesus, there is no conversion, and the author doesn’t have a goal of evangelizing.

A LOT OF BAD NEWS TODAY: A friend just emailed to say that Phillip Yancey, a pastor and successful author, has been in a very bad car accident in New Mexico and has been life-flighted to a hospital. Earlier today longtime  Christian writer and mentor Cecil Murphey suffered a tragedy when his home in the Atlanta area burned down — and his son-in-law was lost in the blaze. Please say a prayer for both of these friends. Thanks.

A week ago, I noted that publishers have a tendency to ask questions about author platforms: How often do you speak? To whom? How big are the crowds? Are you on television? How many stations? What’s the size of your audience? Do you have a radio show? How many people are on your data base? Who gets the newsletter? How many people donated to your organization last year?

That led one person to say, "I’m concerned I don’t have enough letters after my name." It’s interesting, but the notion of "credentials" has finally become important in CBA. As I’ve already noted, we used to see pastors and Christian speakers talk about such diverse topics as money management and weight loss in addition to salvation and theological issues. These days, that’s tough to do. We’ve become a more specialized society, so we want to see health books from doctors and experts with a background in nutrition or exercise, and we expect our financial books to be written by CPA’s and successful investment types.

I’d submit that the type of background you have can influence the type of book you do. Sometimes "personal experience" can make up for the lack of a credential. If you’ve no experience with successful online investing, it’s pretty tough to find a publisher who will listen to your stock-picking  book. On the other hand, if you’ve made a fortune with your unique investment methods, have a system for teaching it to others, and can work with a writer to tell it coherently, publishers will pay attention. Right now I’m working with a woman who has lost about 200 pounds, been on the cover of PEOPLE, and even appeared on Oprah to tell her story. The fact that she’s been through it, didn’t rely on surgery, and can tell you how to make the same changes in your own life, gives her the opportunity to do a great book. (The fact that she’s gorgeous and articulate doesn’t hurt, either.) So establishing a platform is sometimes simply a matter of figuring out who you are and what your message is.

That said, nearly every author can be working to improve their platform. Think of a "platform" as the general awareness of you and your message. The more people you speak to, the more others know about you, the bigger your platform. This is one of the reasons I encourage authors not to spend months creating a book proposal, then follow it with five minutes banging out a bio. You’ve got to think about how you can impress a publisher with your platform. Spend time maximizing yourself via your bio.

If you speak at conferences, workshops, trade shows, seminars, business gatherings, and churches, create a list of all the places you speak. Where did you speak last year? Where do you expect to speak this year? How many people will hear you? Look through your venues and determine a realistic number. How many more will receive the CD and hear you? Also think about the demographics of your audience — it can make a big difference to publishers. Who is it that most often comes to hear you? If you’re, say, writing a book for teens, it doesn’t do you a lot of good to tell me that you’re speaking to businessmen at seminars.

Be very clear about sharing all your media opportunities. What radio shows have you been on in the past? What television shows? What is their reach? Who do you have contacts with, so that you are fairly certain you can get on the show again? Obviously you’re at an advantage if you’ve got your own show — even a local show can help. But it’s the national media that publishers crave, so let them know about the places you’ve been and the shows you’ve done. If you have some sort of club or organization or ministry, you’ve simply got to be capturing names and emails so that you can  share that information with your publicist. A data base is simply a list of people who already believe in you — so they’re already going to be interested in your book. 

The writing you do also counts. If you’re doing a column in your local paper, or you’re writing articles in magazines, or you’re regularly writing for a popular web site, you’ve got to share that information. I think one of the most overlooked opportunities for up-and-coming authors to build their platform is through short articles. The growth of the web has created a huge call for content — why not help fill the void? Get your name out there by writing pieces for web sites, magazines, blogs, daily offerings, and the like. 

I’ve watched someone like Dr. Dennis Hensley (the guy who runs the excellent Professional Writing program at Taylor University) sell one article a dozen different times. When he was doing a book on time management, he wrote one really solid article that offered good tips on the topic, then tweaked it and sold it to a realty magazine, a management magazine, a business magazine, and numerous trade magazines. Each one was a bit unique — for teachers, he used examples that related to them in the classroom. For restaurant managers, he used examples that involved customer service and staff management. Each audience got good content, and each article was just a bit different. All of those helped create a platform for Dennis.

At the same time, be thinking about how you can use the internet to begin creating some buzz for your book. Who could you send it to that might influence others? That’s called a "big mouth" list, and you need to begin thinking about how to create your own. Where could you get people talking about your book that might actually lead to some buzz? What sites do readers of your book visit, and how can you reach them?

Randy Ingermanson has begun working with authors facing these types of questions. I think he got tired of writing excellent novels, only to see publsihers barely move copies, so he started something called "the mad genius" that is an attempt to help authors build their own buzz. (Google him and you’ll see his work.) Of course, you can always talk with a free-lance publicist as well, just to see what ideas they have to help you expand your platform.

Here’s the bottom line: There used to be a feeling that, as a writer, all you needed to do was to write a great book. That’s not true any more — at least not for most of us. You still have to write a great book, but to thrive financially, you’ve got to think about establishing a healthy platform so that publishers will sit up and take notice.

And that leads me to a follow-up question from Colleen: "How can a new historical fiction writer, whose novel is set in the distant past,  establish a platform?" My answer: Same way. Again, I think your first consideration is to write a fantastic book (because if you write a mediocre book, it’s not going to get noticed anyway). But then I think you have to work to get noticed. Do interviews. Write about your time period or topic. Get your name out there.

I realize this is hard — many novelists are introverts, and much prefer sitting home with their story to getting out and promoting themselves. I don’t have an answer that is easy, nor do I have one that’s a sure-fire winner. The fact is, all this platform-building is hard work, time-consuming, often without any sense of immediate payback. And, worst of all, it might not work. There are plenty of novelists out there who tried all this and STILL only saw their publisher move five thousand copies of their novel. But the alternative is to do nothing and hope you’re going to be discovered — the literary equivalent of standing on the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

One last thought: Work as hard to create buzz inside your publishing house as you do outside the house. Get to know the editorial team. Make an effort to befriend the publicity people and offer to help them do anything they need done. Say "yes" a lot. Make friends in the company. Write such a great book that the sales types read it and get excited. Because there’s nothing like organizational enthusiasm to get your book kick-started at a publishing house. If you get those folks enthusiastic, you’ve got a chance for the enthusiasm to spread to other people at bookstores and magazines and media outlets. And then you’re off and running.

Kate wrote and asked, "How can I make my nonfiction memorable? "

I can think of a handful of tips…

1. Rely on "story." How many times have you sat through a church service, listened to a good sermon, and left without remembering the pastor’s points, yet having his illustration stuck in your mind? The world revolves around story. It’s why you can turn on a TV anywhere, 24/7, and find stories. It’s how we come to understand ourselves and our world. So offer your reader a story, not just solid content. Give them a story that illustrates your points, and your writing will be much more memorable.

2. Pick up the pace. After you’ve written your chapter or article, go back through it and cut all unnecessary words. Ask someone you respect to look it over and suggest cuts. If you move the reader along quickly, you’re more apt to keep him or her reading. In particular, trim your adjectives and adverbs. Newer writers tend to think it will make them look mature or thoughtful if they lard up their text with adjectives ("The bright, yellow, cheery sun shone on the green, verdant, rolling hills as…we…Zzzzzz….."). It doesn’t. It just takes the punch out of your writing.

3. Use short sentences. Yeah, you can call it the Curse of USA Today, but short sentences cause the reader to stay with you. They also force you to break complex ideas down into simpler thoughts, thereby making your work more easily memorable.   

4. Create a strong lead. Think through your opening words. Make sure they draw your reader into your topic. You want your lead to arouse curiosity, hook them into your topic, and set your scene.

5. Work on your writing flow. Make sure your first sentence flows logically into your second sentence. Then make your second sentence flow into your third. Follow that by making sure your first paragraph flows into your second paragraph. Nonfiction can’t always rely on characters and setting to move the action along — it’s your content and story that keeps them reading. So don’t rely solely on the greatness of an idea to carry a book — the fact is, there are some fabulous ideas buried in truly awful books, so they’re apt to be ignored. Great nonfiction writing has a flow to it that keeps the reader moving forward, turning pages, learning new things.

6. Establish conflict. No kidding. A nonfiction writer needs to establish conflict right away, perhaps even faster than a novelist does. Readers are buying a nonfiction book for one of three reasons: either they want to learn, they want to be entertained, or because they have a question or problem and they want an answer. So, unlike a novelist, you can’t dwell on conflict. Nobody wants a book that defines their problem for them. If I’ve got a problem with, say, my kids or my money or my marriage, I don’t need someone to tell me it’s bad — I already KNOW it’s bad; that’s why I’m looking for a book that will offer me a solution. So set the stage by revealing what the conflict or problem is, then move on to…

7. Offer strong solutions. Readers don’t buy books that ponder problems. They buy books that offer great solutions to problems. So offer solutions. Tell me what the answer is to my problem. (And if you don’t know, you’re not writing the correct book.)

8. Give details, not generalities. We’ve all had the experience of feeling like we got cheated by a book that over-promised and under-delivered. Don’t cheat your readers or they’ll never buy anything from you again. Give the reader the details. Tell them exactly what they need to do different in order to live more effectively. Don’t hold back by thinking you’re going to give the rest of your wisdom in book #2 — it won’t happen. Don’t withhold good information because you want the readers to come hear you speak at your seminar — if they don’t like your book, they won’t show up. GIVE THEM ANSWERS TO THEIR QUESTIONS and you’ll be on track to create a good book. My friend Bobb Biehl used to say that writers are like TV repair men. We walk into lives and jiggle the wires, trying to find something that will make it work. But you MUST jiggle wires, since no TV ever got fixed by telling people to keep on doing the same thing that hasn’t been working. So give me details — suggest some wires to jiggle.

9. Use story to illustrate your points. And I should add that a good story doesn’t need to be explained — it illustrates your point so well that additional words are unnecessary. But your stories will stay with your readers. (I once illustrated my point about "learn to have fun with your kids" by telling how Patti and I used to take the kids on pajama rides. We’d get the kids ready for bed early, put them under the covers, wait a moment…then burst into the room yelling "Pajama Ride!" We’d bundle them into the car and take them to Dairy Queen. A simple illustration that demonstrates having fun doesn’t take a lot of preparation. Years later, I still have people ask me, "Aren’t you the guy who wrote about taking pajama rides?") I contend that most of us think in story, so it’s the story that makes your writing memorable. I should be able to read your story and know exactly what your point is. A story that needs a lot of explanation is simply the wrong story.

10. When you’re not sure how to make it memorable, rely on your five senses. In other words, steal a bit of wisdom from novelists — get your readers to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch something. That forces a reader to engage with your text, and draws them back into the content of the book.

I’m a huge nonfiction reader. I love history, true stories, and anything that educates me. I probably lean more toward being changed by content than being entertained by interesting characters in unique situations. Don’t get me wrong — I love a good novel. But I’m just naturally drawn to nonfiction books because I enjoy learning and changing. So "nonfiction" does not equate to "boring" in my world. As a writer, you should make it sing…or you should leave it alone and go back to writing failed screenplays.

chip

Norm wrote to me and asked, "Over the last couple of years, what are the big changes you’ve seen in Christian publishing?"

I suppose I could list hundred of things that have changed in the years I’ve been in publishing. But I’ll limit today’s post to ten changes we’ve all seen in the last couple of years…

1.  The ABA/CBA Connection. Though a publishing historian could argue that many publishing houses actually began by printing Bibles or theological works, the modern era probably started when HarperCollins purchased Zondervan. Suddenly an ABA house owned a CBA house. That led to Random House starting it’s own CBA imprint, Waterbrook Press. Then Time-Warner started Warner Faith (now FaithWords). Simon & Schuster bought out Howard Publishing. Penguin launched Penguin Praise. At the same time, we’ve seen several of the smaller houses eaten up by larger houses — so Fishermen’s was bought by Shaw, who was in turn bought by Waterbrook, who recently bought Multnomah. Honor was purchased by Cook, who had earlier bought Victor and Scripture Press. Baker bought Revell, then Bethany House. Thomas Nelson bought Integrity Publishers. And we can expect to see more of the smaller CBA houses get snapped up by the larger houses. That’s brought major changes to the way we do business.

2. The Rise of Agents. One of the major changes in the way CBA publishers do business has been the movement toward literary agents. When I first began agenting, you could list the Christian literary agents on one hand — well, at least on two hands. A friend and I just put a list together of the agents focused on CBA, and we stopped counting at sixty. As a business progresses, it requires more specialists, so the rise of agents was a predictable change for an industry that was far too much of a good ol’ boy network. While some CBA oldtimers don’t like the change, there’s no question it has led to more money for authors and better manuscripts for publishers. Most CBA publishers now count on agents to act as the first line of defense, weeding out the dross and sending proposals that are clean, focused, and publishable.

3. The Domination of Big Boxes. All of us used to love the days of wandering into a small independent bookstore and nosing around. Those days are largely gone. Borders and Barnes & Noble dominate the bookstore market, with smaller chains (like the excellent Books-a-Million group in the South) hanging in there. And Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, and Costco have become book selling behemoths, moving millions of copies and reshaping the distribution patterns of publishers everywhere.

4. The Rise of the Internet. Amazon.com changed the way Americans shop for books. It changed the way agents and editors research titles. It made academic research considerably easier. It’s allowed unknown authors to create buzz for themselves. And it has taken over the way we think about marketing books. I continue to think CBA hasn’t figured out how to best use the world wide web to market and sell books, so I see continued changes in store for the future.

5. The Blockbuster Mentality. Publishers have always wanted books to do well, but the new economy demands they find bigger names to do bigger books, since one blockbuster can float a company for years. Think about Time-Warner’s book with Joel Osteen — it sold four million copies, turned the author into a household name, and moved a relatively small imprint into the forefront of CBA publishing.  This mentality has also created unrealistic expectations, as editors will now admit they have a hard time acquiring any titles that can’t guarantee 40,000 copies sold. And it has helped give rise to the whole fascination with Christian celebrities (following a pattern we’ve seen perfected by Hollywood).

6. Platform is King. This is related to the above note about blockbusters: The first question an editor will ask when looking at a proposal is something about the author’s platform. How often does he speak? To whom? How big are the crowds? Is she on television? How many stations? What’s the size of her audience? Does he have a radio show? How many people are on her data base? Who gets his newsletter? How many people donated to her organization last year? The notion of establishing an author platform is now at least equally important to the quality of the book idea in question, to say nothing of the quality of the writing.

7. Follow the Money. Though it rarely gets discussed publicly, the economics of CBA publishing have changed considerably in recent years. When I got my first book deal (this was right after the invention of movable type), I think I was paid 8%. When I was first helping authors, it wasn’t unusual to see contracts paying 10%-12% of net. (I once heard a publisher say he would "never pay 20% to an author.") Now we see many publishers paying 18% of net, sometimes 20% or more. That would have been unheard of just ten or twelve years ago. (And for those not in the know, most CBA houses pay on net revenues, while most ABA houses pay on gross or retail income.) Subrights are suddenly becoming more important, after having been ignored as revenue sources by many. And technology changes have allowed publishers to find it cost effective to create more print runs of fewer copies each, thereby lowering their investment (and therefore their risk) in each title. And, of  course, retailers have found themselves squeezed by shrinking dollars and increased competition, so we now see fewer books on the shelves, and there are few slow sellers. If your book hasn’t sold in a month or two, it’s bound to be boxed up and sent back to the publisher for a credit. That means there is a small window for your book to make a splash…assuming they actually get it onto the shelves, which have all been taken over by t-shirts with stupid religious slogans, Precious Moments statuettes, Thomas Kinkade plates, silver jewelry that is bound to turn your finger green, John 3:16 socks, Testamints, Armor of God pajamas, King David Action Figures, and Wash-Away-Your-Sins Soap-on-a-Rope.

8. Charisma Rules. Christian bookstores used to be dominated by white, middle-class, ultra-conservative Republican evangelicals who insisted on a premillenial view of Revelation and were a bit wary of really edgy things like "guitars in church" and "lattes instead of good old fashioned Folgers." Frankly, they were afraid of anything that smacked of charismatic theology, since it was all emotional claptrap that failed to mention John Calvin, Dallas Seminary, and the Great Hymns of the Faith songbook. That’s changed. Now most Christian bookstores are dominated by white, middle-class, ultra-conservative Republican evangelicals who realize they need to sell books to stay in business, so they grit their teeth and sell Joyce Meyer. But understand this: the charismatic church has given new life to Christianity worldwide, has basically taken over religious television programming, and have probably become the biggest consumer group for Christian books. A huge change.

9. A Need for Expertise. If you’ve been in this business for any time at all, you probably remember the days when the pastor of a large church would write a book on Ephesians, follow it up with a book on financial management, then do a book on child rearing, before penning a book of devotions. Christians aren’t buying that any more. Organizational theory tells us that, over time, organizations become more complex rather than less so. (It’s why the NFL used to list a player as a "lineman," but now teams carry one guy who is just a "long snapper" and another who is a dedicated "kick returner.") And complexity breeds specialization. So nobody really cares what your pastor has to say about, for example, exercise. If you want an exercise book, you go to a health specialist — preferably a physician, maybe a nutritionist or a dietician, possible an experienced personal trainer to the stars. If you need help with your finances, you want a book from a CPA, or an investment specialist, or at least somebody who’s got a nationwide radio show talking about handling finances. The notion of credentialing, long important in ABA, has arrived in CBA.

10. The Growth of Christian Fiction. Since I’m limiting this to ten things, I’ve debated which trends to include and which to ignore. The death of personal story books? The rise of the new church? The demise of missionary stories (which basically defined popular Christian publishing in the 50′s)? The emergence of creative nonfiction and spiritual memoir? I considered all those ideas, but nothing really has changed the market so much in recent years as the rise of the Christian novel — and we have Jerry Jenkins to thanks for it. Publishing as an industry has been relatively flat for several years, but almost any bookseller will tell you that one of their growth categories has been religious fiction. These days you can find genre romances, cozy mysteries, hard boiled detectives, sci-fi stories, chick lit, post-modern angst, and every other sort of novel with a decidedly Christian bent to it. And while the movement had its beginnings with CHRISTY and TWO FROM GALILEE, the fact is nothing brought Christian fiction to the forefront like the LEFT BEHIND series (now past 60 million and going strong). You may or may not be a fan of Mr. Jenkins’ writing, but if you make your living in CBA, you should definitely send him a Christmas card and speak in hushed tones when you see him at the summer book show. Because nobody has made more of an impact for Christian books in my lifetime.

Hope you find this helpful!

Someone wrote to say, "I’m not published, but I’m considering self-publishing a nonfiction collection of some old columns and newer musings in the same vein. One of my writer friends is appalled and says I will forever damage my writing reputation and future publishing potential. Some agent sites say that writers should not reveal they’ve self-published unless it’s a successful venture. What’s your take on this matter?"

Self publishing is great way to have the fun of seeing your name in print while losing lots of money. As somebody who has successfully self-pubbed three books, I can tell you that I’m a fan, so long as you do it right.

First, I don’t think self-pubbing automatically hurts you. The fact is, there are several speakers who have self-pubbed a book, sold a bunch of copies, showed a track record of sales to publishers, and landed a deal with a royalty-paying publisher. If you can create a book and sell copies, chances are a publisher will notice and appreciate that.

Second, keep in mind there are lots MORE people who self-pubbed, created a lousy book, added a REALLY lousy cover, couldn’t sell them, and eventually boosted their local economy by investing in the magic of recycling. (Or, if they were smart, gave them to some nonprofit when they weren’t looking, then took a tax deduction. See US Government Form BAFS2007 — Bad Author Filing Singly.)

In my view, this isn’t a tough choice: ONLY self-publish if you can sell the books yourself. ONLY. End of story. If you can’t sell them, don’t do it.

I’ll say it another way for all the slow readers: If you have a venue (like you’re speaking and can sell them in the back of the room), or you have access to a group (like you’re the chairperson of the Mel Torme Fan Club and you’ve just written "The Life of the Velvet Fog"), or your Great Aunt just turned in her soup ladle and left you big wads o’ cash that you don’t know what to do with — go ahead and self-publish. Otherwise, stay away. Because I can guarantee you that your self-published book is not going to get noticed, it isn’t going to be sold by others, and it isn’t going to turn you into writing’s version of an overnight sensation. Trust me on this. It will simply be an expensive way for you to "feel sort of a like a real writer."

I once helped a guy who had started his own chain of restaurant to create his company saga. He printed them, sells them in his restaurants, and gives them away to senior staff. I also wrote an invest book with a guy who teaches people how to buy and sell stock options (speaking of ways to lose money fast). He sells them to his seminar participants. I have written and sold my own books of card magic, because I know that every card magician in America subscribes to either Genii Magazine, Magic Magazine, MUM, or The Linking Ring. I took out ads in those mags, sold a thousand copies of my book, and made out like a bandit.

BUT the majority of self-published books are weak, mainly because they are done by people with too much ego to recognize the reason their book isn’t getting published is because (a) it’s a bad idea, or (b) it’s bad writing, or (c) there’s no audience for it, or (d) all of the above.  My experience is that many self-published books are poorly edited because that person with too much ego can’t see the value of professional editing, and won’t listen to it even if they heard it because to heed editing advice would mean the publishers were correct. And, of course, lots of self-published books have lousy covers because that big ego won’t allow the author to admit that he or she knows as much about art design as they do about piloting the Space Shuttle. So that means there are a bunch of self-published books that are poorly produced because the amateur doesn’t know any better.

Still, the biggest problem with self-published books is that THEY DON’T SELL because the author who wrote it had no idea how he or she was going to sell them once they showed up in the garage. So hear me again: If you don’t have a method for selling your self-published book, turn and run the other way. Even if you think your book is brilliant. Even if your mom tells you it’s a great idea. Even if all the people in your English class say you’ve got the chops to be a fantastic novelist some day. Otherwise you’re going to spend a lot of money for what will eventually turn into land fill. You’ll have boxes of books sitting in your basement, and you’ll be wondering why the rest of the world doesn’t wake up and come buy them from you, and the whole thing will turn into a bitter disappointment.

(Note to all poets: Yeah, yeah…you’re all sensitive. And you have every right to self-publish your deep and meaningful poetry about how sensitive you are, then sell it to your friends. But let’s face it…your friends are buying it because you’re their friend and, as I already noted, sensitive. So don’t write me a bunch of whiny letters stating how "Shallow American Readers Don’t Like Poetry." The fact is, if you can only sell your words to people who know you, then you don’t really have a book — you have a family.)

There are a bunch of rip-off companies out there masquerading as publishers — to read about them, pick up a copy of Ten Percent of Nothing, a wonderful expose of fee-based agents and vanity publishers. But there are some companies who know what they’re doing, do it well, and won’t cheat you. The folks at Winepress, for example. They get you an ISBN, use real editors, actually work on marketing with you, and in the end give you a nice product. I know the folks at Xulon can produce a nice-looking book. There are others — but be aware that many places will simply produce whatever you give them — so if you haven’t listened to my earlier advice about editing, you may end up looking stupid. (Of course, if you’re planning to publish a book because you are, in fact, a great writer, perhaps the second coming of Ernest Hemingway, and a misunderstood genius to boot, and all those publishers are completely wrong in their assessment of you, it’s too late — you already look stupid. Sorry to have to be the one to tell you.)

Again, I’m a fan of self-publishing if you do it right, have a plan, and can actually sell the books. I had two good-selling magic books, and I worked with magician Andre Kole to self-publish a book we wrote together that had gone out of print — we went on to sell another 20,000 copies of our own version at his performances. It can work. So if you want to put your columns together and sell them at speaking engagements or workshops, it’s a fine idea. If you are invested in internet marketing and have a way to reach your audience, go for it. But self-publishing your own novel, for example, probably isn’t going to make a difference one way or the other when a publisher is making a decision on your manuscript, unless you self-pubbed and sold ten thousand copies, got noticed by PW, and got nominated for some big writing award. (And if that’s the case, you should call me right away!)

chip