"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

John,

How long does it usually take for you to reply to a new author's submission of the first six chapters?

Thanks in advance.
 
It varies on the specific workload at the time. I TRY to get back within three weeks, but I often fail - I ask authors to nudge me if they haven't heard within two to three weeks to give me a reminder. So if you're waiting, e-mail me now!
 
This is my first post to this forum so please treat me gently.:)

I'm wondering how self-publishing affects an author's ability to find an agent and/or publisher?

I.E. an individual has tried for quite some time to find an agent and/or publisher and hasn't found one, but they decide to self publish and try and market their book on their own while still trying to find a professional publisher. Will an agent and/or publisher frown upon self-publishing OR if the author manages some level of success in marketing and selling his/her novel, will that possibly attract a professional publisher/agent?

Thanks

Karen
 
Thanks!

I'm just sussing out possible situations as I want to keep my options open before I find myself led in one direction or another.

One other question I have is there a website or the like that states the statistics of the success/failure rate of novels published by new authors? I'm curious as to what those stats are as what also what classifies a novel as a success/failure within the market.

Yep...trying to get a handle on the marketing aspect of a novel. I want to make sure I have my ducks in a row before I proceed. I'm sure I'll have more questions like this as time progresses (and my marketing wizard brother-in-law makes me look at these questions.)

Thanks

Karen
 
No, there isn't a webite that deals with that - if you go into a bookshop and see a recent author who has, say, three different books on the shelves all the time, they are probably quite successful. If there are several copies of each title, certainly so. But do check more than one bookshop. They each vary.

Success depends on expectations for an individual book. Some are bought by a publisher expecting to sell 10,000 paperbacks, another expecting to sell 10,000 hardbacks and 50,000 paperbacks (advances paid to authors vary upon those expectations, of course, which are based on a mixture of publishers' knowledge of the market and subjective love of a book from a new novelist). So there is no template that covers everything, which is usually the case in publishing.
 
I suppose Rob Grant must do quite well, then ... there always seems to be at least one copy of each of his titles. Or are his books just kind of "hanging on to the coat-tails" of the Red Dwarf books?

Personally, I've never read any of the Red Dwarf books, but I loved Colony and Incompetence ...
 
Karen, on the average, self-published authors sell less than a hundred copies of their books. Those who do significantly better than that generally have a genius for promotion and a winning personality; they are also tireless in their efforts to promote their books. Possibly you would rather spend that time and effort in writing. Possibly you have so much energy that you can fit in both.

You are the only one who can decide if you have the necessary qualities.
 
Teresa said:
Those who do significantly better than that generally have a genius for promotion and a winning personality; they are also tireless in their efforts to promote their books.

It's funny you should mention that. Recently I've come across this page, and it's full of useful tips for published writers or soon-to-be published writers, both self-published and traditional: Kelly Spitzer » Blog Archive » In Profile: NY Times Bestselling Novelist Lisa McMann

Some ideas to consider. :)
 
That article reminds me of one edge that anyone writing for children or teenagers should definitely use to his or her advantage: if you let the schools in your area know that you're a local author who writes juvenile or YA fiction, they will often invite you to come and speak. After that, you can approach schools in other areas, using the schools you've already visited as a reference.

I know authors, both self-published and traditionally published, who have been very successful at this.
 
I think that with YA going to the schools is great because they are always interested in providing role models. My novel is not YA so that's out for me. But I figure, regardless of how my novel publishes (with a publishing house or self-published) I HAVE to self market. I want to start figuring this out NOW so I have some sort of plan to set in motion when the time comes.
 
No, there isn't a webite that deals with that - if you go into a bookshop and see a recent author who has, say, three different books on the shelves all the time, they are probably quite successful. If there are several copies of each title, certainly so. But do check more than one bookshop. They each vary.

Is there a marketing book or the like out there that I can check out?

The problem with checking out the book stores in Toronto is that, for the most part they are all owned by one company and their mega-bookstores are ALL the same on the inside. They've done a great job at pushing out most of the independent bookstores in Toronto.

Success depends on expectations for an individual book. Some are bought by a publisher expecting to sell 10,000 paperbacks, another expecting to sell 10,000 hardbacks and 50,000 paperbacks (advances paid to authors vary upon those expectations, of course, which are based on a mixture of publishers' knowledge of the market and subjective love of a book from a new novelist). So there is no template that covers everything, which is usually the case in publishing.

I guess that would also depend upon the genre and what type of fiction/non-fiction it is.

Karen
 
I guess that would also depend upon the genre and what type of fiction/non-fiction it is.

Karen

No, within SF and fantasy expectations vary between books as they do in every genre. As a publisher I paid new authors advances varying from £1500 to £25,000, depending on what I and my colleagues thought we could sell initially of their debut novels. Every book and project is dealt with individually.
 
The problem with checking out the book stores in Toronto is that, for the most part they are all owned by one company and their mega-bookstores are ALL the same on the inside. They've done a great job at pushing out most of the independent bookstores in Toronto.



Karen

But my initial point still stands - look in those stores at newer writers with more than one book on the shelves. They are the successful ones.
 
I had a scary realization about big stores pushing out little ones yesterday, reading a report that Office Depot is having trouble.
I thought, they virtually eliminated small office/stationery stores even in downtowns...and now THEY are not making it?

I could easily see the same thing happening with books. The little stores wiped out, then the big boxes faltering due to over-leveraging and fiscal weirdness (and maybe people getting sick of "McBooks" approach?) Leaving us where?


Another big "sell book book" is "1001 Ways to Market Your Book" by John Kremer. He is also founder of the Book Marketing Network on ning.com which might be worth your glance.
 
Yes, there are certainly fewer small, independent book shops here than there were twenty years ago. There have been discussions about this in publishing trade journals and elsewhere for at least ten years. In many towns and cities, it's an exact parallel with supermarkets pushing out small groceries...
 
Yes, there are certainly fewer small, independent book shops here than there were twenty years ago. There have been discussions about this in publishing trade journals and elsewhere for at least ten years. In many towns and cities, it's an exact parallel with supermarkets pushing out small groceries...

Add to that the fact that Waterstones bought out Ottakers. My eldest daughter worked for Ottakers all though her time at University. The last few months were under Waterstones management, and she noticed a totally different approach re what books were bought in. There was less tailoring of buying to area/customer, more the promotional lines. ( I hope that makes sense)
 

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