Week 12: The journey to publishing my memoir takes another turn.
If you would like to follow from the beginning, start here.
I have been thinking a lot about the idea of being traditionally published or not.
What I Did This Week
I found a rabbit hole and got lost in it.
I have so much rolling around in my head this week. Should I send a proposal off to agents? Based on the feedback I received from the literary consultant that read my draft, maybe I should. Writing a proposal in itself is a lot of work and a marketing plan is part of it.
Then, I have been thinking about publishing. Which leads to the question, where are YA readers accessing books? Online, print, library? Should I release it as a series on Wattpad as my audience lives there?
That started me wondering who talks about YA books. There are so many blogs! And podcasts! And of course there’s WattPad as well. What about BookTok? I could approach marketing to the right audience in so many ways.
I dove deep into a rabbit hole this week and I am not sure I came up to find any solid ground.
Difficult Publishing Decisions
If I try to go the agent route that means putting the project deadlines to the side as a July publishing date would not work. A 2022 publishing date would not work. *Big Breath*
I really needed to think about that. I don’t want to take a left turn and get lost, use it to procrastinate.
I have never tried to get a publishing deal for myself. I have helped authors find publishers, although not as an agent. As a book coach, I have helped write proposals that were submitted directly to smaller publishing houses that take submissions from authors. I know how to write a book proposal… for someone else.
Making a Decision Based on My Goals
I need to go back to my goals. I have three goals for this project.
- The biggest goal is to get my book published.
- The second goal is to get the book into the hands of young people it can help. An agent and a publisher with a ready market will make that happen faster and more easily.
- The third goal is to learn and grow – that is always a goal.
Based on those goals, I will write a proposal for a few agents that work with YA manuscripts. That means doing the research that they want. And if I don’t get an agent, I could submit the proposal directly to smaller publishing houses. And if that doesn’t go anywhere, all the work I put into the proposal will help with my self-publishing journey. So, no loss at all. All of these choices and tasks will be helpful.
Researching Literary Agents
Once that decision was made I researched agents. I looked at it from two perspectives.
- Agents accepting manuscripts for YA
- Agents with authors on a bestseller list (Not Amazon)
I will pick a few of each to see what happens. One thing I am NOT going to do is spend years pitching agents and publishers to see if they will publish my work. I will do this, give it a deadline. I will move forward, with or without a publisher.
Choosing Literary Agents
Once I had a few on my list I looked at each website to get a sense of them and what it might be like to work with them. I looked at other authors they have worked with, paid attention to the language on their website, and browsed through the site.
When I decided I might like to submit a proposal to them, I went to their submissions page and read the entire thing.
The Parts of a Book Proposal
So this week I will start the process of writing a book proposal for myself for the first time ever!
The book proposal will contain the following:
- Book Concept
- About the Book
- About the Author
- About the Market
- About the Competition
- Production Details
- About Promotion
- Table of Contents
- Chapter Summaries
- Sample Chapters
- The Appendix
What I Am Doing this Week
This week I will work on the book proposal, with an eye to doing the first draft of the following sections:
- About the Book
- About the Author
- About the Market
- About the Competition
We will see how far I get with these tasks next Monday!
Have you ever considered finding an agent and pitching a book idea?
– Keep writing
Melody Ann
Author Nation is your go-to resource for becoming a successful nonfiction author, from planning to promotion and everything in between.