Establishing your publishing non-negotiables
The publishing industry is a constantly changing, shifting, living being. As an author today, it's important to understand where the industry stands, where you stand, your goals for your book, the options available, and what your own capabilities, boundaries, expectations, and non-negotiables are. Phew, that was a mouthful! The more you prepare and research your options, the easier everything will be once you put that first foot in the door.
Before you begin sending out your manuscript, you need to figure out how to articulate why you want your book in the hands of a particular publisher, and why you are the perfect person to write this book. You need to get to know yourself, and your book!
How do you do this? Do some writing outside of the writing
Begin writing out the answers to the following questions:
What is your book's purpose?
How has your life experience influenced your individual process, style, and voice?
What are your unique hopes for the book and how do you want readers to engage with it?
What makes you an authority on the topic/s your book covers?
Have you thought deeply about genre and structure?
Once you’ve spent some time getting these answers down, you can tuck them away. But they will inform the decisions you make later in the publishing process.
It's important to find the right publisher to suit you and your books' needs. It may be a daunting task to figure out which publisher/s to send your manuscript to, especially if you are not represented by an agent, but if you figure out what your publisher non-negotiables are, it will help you narrow down the search.
What are non-negotiables? Things you will not budge on. You can have non-negotiables for various things:
writing process
personal life
things you eat
publishers
partners
everything else under the sun
It's a smart move to know what these are, and why they are so important to you. Establishing your publisher non-negotiables is no different than any others. Simply determine a few characteristics that you think will be incredibly important to have in a publisher. Here are a few examples:
location: is it important to you that your publisher be local? In the same city? Province?
small press, large press, trade publisher—the pros and cons of each is a very large discussion.
large social media following/presence, check out their engagement ... Do you like what you see? Are they active on social media or are they dormant?
they put out large glossy beautiful books
they tend to be "everywhere" from events, to social media, and the press
they are a small team
diverse
publish only a few titles/large number of titles
their authors have won awards
Some, all, or none of the above may be applicable or important to you, but you need to figure this out for yourself. There will also be non-negotiables that you think of that are not on this list, remember these are only examples. Once you have your list of non-negotiables, make a spreadsheet listing all of the publishers you are considering and then begin to "check the boxes" (this is one of the times when checking boxes is actually encouraged!)
You will of course have to do some research to find out most of the above, but it's fun research, and it will get you one step closer to finding your book’s perfect home.
Here are some publisher non-negotiable examples from an exercise I gave one of my students. When asked what is important to her and her book, here are her responses:
1. I want open communication. I want to have a face and a voice to whoever is repping me and my manuscript, and that this face and voice are influential in their department.
2. I want my manuscript treated as if it is a priority to publish/market it because everyone is backing it 100%. I want the publisher to have selected it for its quality, not for extraneous reasons like they need to reach a quota of publications by X people, etc.
3. I want to have the publication process explained thoroughly to me if I ask for it and receive updates from time to time. If I reach out to inquire about something, I should trust that it will get responded to in a reasonable amount of time. I don’t want to get caught up in a deal that I didn’t know I was agreeing to, essentially.
4. I want to feel like the publisher cares about me and my work. They are respectful of my boundaries and limitations and any edits suggested I know are being done because they believe in my work’s potential.
5. I need to sense enthusiasm and professionalism from the publishing team. I want them to have the kind of workplace that fosters a love of great literature and respect among co-workers, since I don’t want to be in a situation where I feel like my book was published to the detriment of others’ wellbeing and/or I can’t reap the full benefits of publication because there is a lot of behind the scenes mess.
6. Relatedly, the press that I work with should be respected in the publishing and reading community. I want to feel like I am lucky to be publishing with them and to have my book marketed alongside works of high literary quality that also belong to their catalogue.
7. I want my manuscript to be taken seriously. So, I want edits that are constructive and considerate, not barely there or, in the opposite direction, cruel and shaming. I want to know that time was taken to make these edits and that the editing will be a very collaborative process where the publisher will be firm but patient with me.
8. I want my artistic visions to be respected. If I feel uncomfortable about how my work is being edited, I want someone to be there to listen to my qualms, consider them, and, if necessary, find an alternate route that will make both parties happy.
9. I want my publisher to be on the lookout for opportunities for me to find new readers and advance my career. For example, they do their research on awards and are excited to submit my work on my behalf.
10. I want to feel championed as an artist, so I don’t want to feel like I’m ever going to be pitted against someone else for my publisher’s attention and, if I receive undue criticism of my work (for instance, if I’m being treated differently as a POC), they will back me up and make sure that my wellbeing is a priority.
You are not done with non-negotiables just yet! It's time to repeat the same process, but this time for your book non-negotiables. So you've found a publisher, you've signed a contract and now the editing begins. It's important to ask what the editing process will look like (even smarter to ask before you sign) so that you can begin to prepare yourself for explaining (should you need to) your non-negotiables for the changes to come re: editing.
Now don't be afraid, this editing process should be fun, and it will improve your book! So knowing what to expect will help make the process a lot easier. Ask questions! Your publisher may or may not offer you a detailed author kit where the editing process is explained (among other aspects of production), but if they do not, you should make sure you are clear on and comfortable with the following:
who your editor will be (some presses have in-house editors, go-to freelancers, and some even let you choose who you will work with)
what the author-editor relationship will look like. Will you get to have one-on-one time with the editor? Will communication simply be over email? Will there be several back and forths?
What will the timeline look like?
Once you know all of this, you can then be ready to explain your non-negotiables should an editor "flag a change" that you do not agree with. Now, let me be clear here. You do not want to "fight" for every change, but if an editor suggests you change something that falls into the scope of your non-negotiables, you need to be ready and willing to articulately explain why you want to leave the section as is. This is very important. Editors are editors because they can see the big picture at a much wider scope than we can. We are close to our projects, we see them from the inside out. But you know (and should trust) your gut instinct. This is your book after all, your name is on it and once it is flung into the atmosphere, there is no taking it back.
Want to learn more about this and other fabulous ways to become a forever writer?
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