How working in publishing helped me land a book deal
The one big takeaway that made a real difference
It’s common for people to go, ‘Ah, that would have helped, then!’ when they hear I worked in publishing before landing my book deal. I haven’t yet worked out if it’s a way to discredit my efforts, or if they believe that industry nepotism can be leveraged to land a deal. Either way, sadly for many (everyone in publishing is writing a book, I swear), it isn’t quite true.
It helped in some ways, but probably not the ways that most people imagine.
Firstly, let’s dispel some myths. For background: I worked as a senior marketing manager at one of the Big Five publishing houses.
I did not have anybody proofread my book for me from the editorial team. I was too embarrassed, and did it myself.
I did not submit to my own publishing house. I can’t think of anything more awkward than being sent around my own manuscript for acquisition notes, or sitting in on a meeting where they discuss marketing budget. No thank you!
I did not have anybody ‘put in a good word’ for my manuscript, because nobody knew it existed. See point 1. And even if an editor DID tell some agents to keep an eye out for my manuscript, I doubt they’d even remember because they get sent so many every day. Plus, agency assistants read the manuscripts before the agents to decide what should get passed on, so there’s just no point asking anyone for help getting an agent or deal because it’s never something in the power of a single person.
There were, however, two benefits which I did utilise.
The first, and more minor of the two: When I was querying agents, I made my own list and spreadsheet. (More info on the querying process with my tips HERE.) Once the list was done, I asked the crime editor I worked with for her personal opinion / experience working with these agents. Some she had no feedback on, because she hadn’t worked with them. Some she had said were nice, but didn’t fight hard for higher advances or bigger campaigns. The ones she told me were ‘Pitbull negotiators’ or that she ‘dropped what she was doing instantly if they sent her a manuscript’ were the ones which I immediately moved to the top of my wish-list. Obviously, having an insider give me the scoop on what agents are like to work with was helpful, but at the end of the day, it’s also not a be all and end all. I met with several agents and some of them may have been the best at negotiating, but our personalities didn’t quite gel enough for me to envision working with them closely for a long time. Others may have repped the best of the best, but the direction I wanted to take my career didn’t quite match with their expectations or vision. At the end of the day, choosing an agent is a super personal choice with so many contributing factors, so although it was helpful to have my editor’s opinion as a guideline, I am not sure that my list would have been very different without it. (I pitched to all 20 agents on my initial list, in no particular order. I had a handful of representation offers, and the one agent I had known I wanted since the start due to her author list is the one I ended up with after chasing - politely - a couple of times.)
The second ‘benefit’ I suppose, is actually just some common sense, and I can share it here with you all so you have it, too. No need to work in publishing for this info!
Before I landed my job in publishing, I had really looked at all my writing as a fun, creative artform. I loved to tell stories, and that was as far as I had thought about anything. (Hence two books which were never sold to traditional publishers . . . )
I had never fully understood, or even considered, that publishing is ultimately a business model for making money. This means they take low risks, and playing it safer with your work is usually going to be best. By this I mean, the book should (usually) have:
A clear audience who will pay money to read it.
Similar comparative titles which have done well in the market.
A clear genre it can be categorised into for online retailers and in-store displays. Many books which merge too many genres become a nightmare for marketers and sales teams to position, design a cover for, etc etc, and it can be very hard to find the right audience for these.
A really strong hook and pitch.
A writing style which is complementary to the genre. e.g. you wouldn’t use literary prose for a YA book. Commercial thrillers tend to have a pacy plot with an accessible tone. etc.
If the book does not have four of these five points, it will usually be considered too high risk at the acquisition process (internal meetings where editors pitch manuscripts they have been sent and enjoyed to the wider team for consideration). If it is high risk, it will likely not be bought - or it will be bought by an uber passionate editor for an absolutely tiny advance sum to minimise economic risk to the company. (Each editor will have monetary / sale targets to hit! So they are taking a personal risk when they take on any new author, too.)
Of course there are exceptions, and niche or indie publishers / self-publishing allows for much more scope re: not being fit into a box, but ultimately this is how it will work at a Big Five.
Then there are trends which publishers, like any other retail company, will take into account. For example, recently, the romantasy genre is hot, hot, hot! So romantasy writers may be having a slightly easier time being picked up now versus a few years back when cosy crime was all the rage. However, remember that publishing works slowly, and some books (like mine!) are sold nearly 2 years before publication. You never know what the trends will be or when, so I advise you to just write what you love and don’t try to follow trends. If I began writing romantasy today in the hopes of making loads of money and having a rebrand, by the time it was ready for pitching, the romantasy market would be ‘oversaturated’ due to trends and it would likely be passed on. Another reason for me to continue with my weird girl fiction! I’ll leave the romantasy experts to do their thing!
One of the books I had written was a YA novel. The feedback I got from one agent was that it was ‘well written, but way too dark for teen audiences.’ That feedback was when I pivoted to messed-up books for adults. I don’t know why I had never considered the audience from a business perspective before - the idea for the story just came to me through the eyes of a teenager, so that was how I wrote it! If I had stopped for a moment and thought about it from a marketing point of view rather than the creative writer point of view, I might have pivoted my vision, written it as an adult novel and been more successful with it. But the lesson was learnt, and Cuckoo was born.
So, I suppose what I’m trying to say is that publishing is a business, and no matter how passionate you are about your novel, you have to look at it objectively and think about how sell-able it is. This is the first thing any agent or editor will consider - even if it’s the best-written book of all time. If they can’t convince their teams that it will sell, they won’t back it. This is the one thing I realised whilst working in publishing which actually helped me get my book deal and write a sellable book. I was always thinking about it’s market position and audience. Otherwise, try self-publishing! There’s space for every type of book out there and even if it’s not on billboards or in the bookshops, you’ve still written something your own, which people can purchase and enjoy. I strongly believe that whilst there may not be a publisher for every book out there, there is a reader for every book out there.
Good luck!
Callie