What authors, agents, editors, and publishers worry about
After more than 50 nonfiction book projects, I can tell you how your various partners are thinking about the book.
What authors worry about
- What is my idea?
- What is my title?
- How long will this take?
- How can I get this published?
- Will it actually help me?
- How am I going to find time for writing?
What authors should worry about that they don’t:
- Where will the source material (data and stories) come from?
- What is my plan to divide up the work into manageable pieces?
- Have I allowed time to pull a full draft together and rewrite?
- How will I promote the book?
What editors worry about
Here’s what your developmental editor — whether you hired one or have one through your publisher — is worried about:
- Does each chapter tell a story?
- Taken together, do the chapters tell a story?
- Does the story support a single key idea?
- Is the writing interesting or boring?
- Is the writing consistent?
- Is the content truthful or inaccurate?
- Is the writing believable or not?
- Is there redundancy?
- What would it take to make this better?
- What’s the author’s mental state? How will they accept my suggestions and criticisms?
What publishers worry about
It’s pretty simple:
- Why the f*** hasn’t legal finished the contract yet?
- Is the idea still relevant?
- Is the manuscript in good shape, or a disaster?
- What is the author doing to promote the book?
- No, really, what is the author doing to promote the book????
- Did another book about the same topic come out before this one?
- How much energy can my publicity staff spend on this, as compared to the other dozen titles we’re working on?
- How many copies will it sell?
What agents worry about
Same list as the publisher list.
A final note
Authors: I know you have a lot on your mind.
But try thinking about your book from the editor’s and publisher’s perspective a bit.
It will help you be successful (and less focused on stuff that really doesn’t matter).