Have You Thought About Writing a Book?
What if THEY come to YOU?
Hi friends,
Yeah, I know. My headlines are clickbaity for a reason. Give me that sweet sweet high open rate.
And I know, I know. If you’re reading this newsletter, there’s a very good chance that you have thought about writing a book. And publishing a book. That is the whole point of being here, I know. But, what if an editor or agent comes to you and asks if you want to write a book? What do you do then? How do you decide if the book they want is the book you want to write? Do you dare say no?
I mean, it’s the dream right? An editor or agent plucks you out of obscurity and says You there, you fantastic writer. I already know you are a genius and I want to spirit you away to the land of the Published Author. You get to skip the Query Letter line and Submissions Line and go right to Book Deal central. YOU are more special than those other plebs.
Basically every writer I meet at a conference secretly hopes this will happen to them (you aren’t fooling anyone, writers) and every journalist or essayist or short fiction writer publishing on the internet has also thought this. With good reason! I have frequently reached out to writers after reading their work online. Some have turned into clients and book deals. Remember Cat Person? This is the EXPOSURE they promised you all along!
And I will not lie and say I haven’t entertained this fantasy while writing this newsletter. I very much want to write a book about agents and publishing and writing, so editors, hit me up! I feel no shame about admitting this.
So, if this happens to you, WHAT DO YOU DO???? Here are some things to consider.
Be flattered! Agents and editors don’t contact writers for funsies. This means they think there’s a chance you have more to say, or you have a platform that will support a book, or both. That’s great!
Ask questions. That first email is the start of a conversation. You can ask as many questions as you want, even probing ones, and you won’t make the editor/agent run for the hills. They might not be able to answer so how much money will I make right away but they should be able to answer most anything else.
Make sure the book they want is one you want to write. If you don’t want to write a whole memoir based on one personal essay, don’t say yes. If you don’t think you can turn 1500 words into 50,000 words, don’t say yes. There are few things worse than writing a book you don’t want to write I PROMISE THIS IS TRUE TRUST ME. Your name will be on the book. Be sure it represents you well.
You don’t have to dance with the first one who asks. If you haven’t heard of that publisher or agency, and googling them doesn’t inspire confidence, you don’t have to go down the road with them. You can say “Thanks so much for your interest! If I end up writing a book, I’ll let you know.” I KNOW it is hard to pass up an offer for a possible book deal (or a REAL book deal) but you have all the power here and you can’t unpublish a book. A bad deal/agent is worse than no deal/agent. It will not be your only shot. It is not your A Chorus Line I hope I get it opportunity. If you got an agent/editor’s attention once, there’s a good chance you will get it again.
Do you have time to write a book? Will writing a book cost you money? Like, actually? Can you devote basically a part-time job’s worth of time to writing a book for about a year? Will writing a book negatively impact what you are able to write on the internet/elsewhere and how you make money that way? Once it’s in the book, you can’t put that content on the internet again. And you can’t just fill a book with the stuff you’ve already written on the internet, either. Do you have MORE to say on your topic, that can live exclusively in a book? I have definitely advised clients to turn down book deals because they make more money on that content online/in classes/newsletters, etc. I mean, I know what I make on this newsletter a year—a book deal would have to be more than that to make sense for me.
Talk to your agent. If you have an agent, and another agent comes knocking, you can’t really do a book with another agent unless you’ve fired your first agent. How you fire your agent, if you want to, is in your agency agreement. If you already have a book out and a different editor comes knocking, you might have clauses in your contract that prevents you from doing a new book with a different publisher. It’s your responsibility to know this.
It is undeniably flattering when someone notices your writing and thinks it’s book-worthy. For some, a book deal is the ultimate goal. But just because it is flattering and wonderful and amazing, that doesn’t always mean it is a good idea for you, at this time, for that agent/editor, or on that idea. You can say no without dooming yourself. You have much more power in this situation than you think.
OXOX,
Kate