Laurie Abkemeier

I am often asked why one book sells and another doesn't. This question comes up particularly when a book doesn't sell in spite of wonderful media coverage and glowing blurbs and reviews. 

After two decades in publishing, I've found that people tend to buy books for one (or more) of the following reasons:

Enjoyed a previous book by the author 

A fan/follower of the author (think: politicians and celebrities)

A fan of the genre or category (think: sci-fi/fantasy or gardening)

The book will solve a problem they have or will make their lives better

Heard the book is a must-read/offers great storytelling

That last reason--by itself--is the hardest to leverage. Building word-of-mouth from scratch takes a great book and an amazing amount of work on the part of everyone involved (especially the author), and there are still no guarantees that people will fork over their hard-earned cash when they could just as easily buy a book for one of the other four reasons.

Ask yourself,

When was the last time I bought a book by an author I'd never heard of... and why?

Mondays are the worst for me and email....

If you're writing narrative nonfiction, you owe it to yourself to read STORYCRAFT: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction by Jack Hart. It's an invaluable resource for today's book author. 

Here's something to think about when considering titles for a book. Imagine you meet someone for the first time, and that person knows nothing about you. You exchange the usual greeting, and then she asks you what you do. You say, "I'm writing a book. It's called ________________." 

Stop.

Now, be honest with yourself. How compelling is your book title?  Do her eyes glaze over, or do they widen?  What does the title tell her about the subject matter? The tone? The category?  Do you have to give the subtitle for her to have any hope of knowing what your book is about?  How hard is that title working? 

Don't get me wrong, the content is what matters most. One of my favorite narrative nonfiction books of all time is National Book Critics Circle award-winner A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr. So brilliant it hurts. But it has one seriously dull title (and no subtitle at all), and had an even duller hardcover jacket. Most first-time* authors wouldn't survive such a trifecta of blandness.

A title is a primary selling tool. Make sure it's giving 110 percent. 

I am not special. Editors who become agents are a dime a dozen. I haven’t conducted an official survey, but I would feel safe in saying that none of us actively chose to become agents. We were fired, or laid off, or we happened upon an author who became such an enormous success that we were able to leave our editorial positions to become that author’s agent and have offices that include sofas with pillows.

In my case, I was young and married and determined to stick to my plan to be a stay-at-home mom, so I left publishing. Ostensibly voluntarily. But anyone who was at my going-away party at Hyperion remembers the embarrassing display. My heart was not in it. I still chuckle when I think of Bob Miller trying to distract everyone from my snotty sobs. I blamed those on the pregnancy hormones, but I would have sobbed anyway. I loved being an editor. I would have done the job for free.

Editors are the directors. They oversee every facet of publication. They are the book’s point person from Day One. I was good at it, and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss it. Every book that ends up in your hands is a result of the editor’s efforts—for better or worse.

Being an agent is harder. You have influence, but not control. Editors, for the most part, don’t like you much. They need you, and they know they need you, and they will tell you they’d rather work with an agented author than an unagented one, but the relationship is complicated. I’m here for the primary purpose of protecting the author, and that means raising the red flag when something is going wrong. There’s no other way to say it: Sometimes it sucks. I’d much rather publishers did their jobs, but the truth is, they often don’t.

COLD HARD FACT: Dear Editor, if you’re hearing from agents a lot, it’s because you’re not doing your job.

And authors. The truth is, they like agents. An agent is the first person to believe in the work and the author. An agent puts in blood, sweat, and tears long before a cent is made. An agent makes the leap of faith that may lead to a publisher forking over an advance, and the dream of a book coming true.

But authors also see the 15 percent agents deduct from every cent they make, and that makes them resent us just a little. Did she earn it? What has she done for me this year? Why haven’t rights sold in Latvia? And where’s my f’ing movie deal?!?

It’s only human nature to wonder: You’re making money off of me, so… what have you done for me lately?

Since I returned to publishing as an agent almost nine years ago, I have worked like Sisyphus every day to answer that question. And sometimes, like this week, I feel as though I’m succeeding.

Yes, the good agents provide editorial help, but we try to be kind in our forcefulness. 

Narrative nonfiction is not only based on fact, it is fact.

Something based on fact but that is not entirely factual is called fiction.

For more about Narrative Nonfiction, check out this link at WritersAndEditors.com.

What I look for is a list of people you are able to approach for a blurb at a later date. If any of those people have told you outright that they will read your work and are likely to give you a blurb, say that. But agents and editors are primarily focused on who you have access to--who is in your circle, or at least two or three degrees away. We know there are rarely guarantees. We expect the people will need to read the finished work first. 

For nonfiction, the vast majority of agents are willing to consider a proposal that includes one or two sample chapters. 

Those of us who work in book publishing are fed up with the Times coverage of our industry. 

My colleague, Brian DeFiore, weighs in on the New York Times piece: "Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal" (10/17/2011).  His rebuttal: Really, New York Times??

And our colleague at Writers House, Simon Lipskar, shares his thoughts as well in Still more on "That Article"