Quick glance at your manuscript's long journey to bound book

Concurrent activities during manuscript development

  Author Book Proposal

An author book proposal is an information packet on your book, the market, and yourself. Usually you send this around to publishers before you've completed the manuscript or if you are pitching a book idea. This provides the publisher insight into the quality of the author's material, it's potential for further development, and market possibilities.  ( continue: includes example of a nonfiction book proposal)

  Author Contract

Example Author Contract  You should thoroughly read the publisher's contract and have an attorney review it before signing anything. Also work closely with your agent if you have one. All publishers have a boilerplate contract covering the legal bases for copyright, royalties, indemnification, delivery of the work, competing works, etc.  But they are skewed in favor of the publisher.  So it is important to read through the contract and identify any odd clauses and negotiable points. Your "bargaining chips" for more favorable terms depend upon you and the nature of your work.  Are you a big name author or first time author? Does your work have potential for other mediums? For more advice, take a look at these.

 Contract Tips From A Literary Agent     Contract Advice From A Writer

SFWA Sample Contracts        7 Best Books On Publishing Contracts

Contract Example from James Russell Publishing
 

    Manuscript Guidelines

Example Manuscript Guidelines  To ensure the timely publication of your book, submit a well-prepared manuscript that adheres to publishing house standards.  If your manuscript's fundamentals are sound, the content editor and copyeditor will spend less time bringing your manuscript up to speed and more time finding ways to make it as perfect as it can be.  Your manuscript should include front matter, back matter, proper permissions, correctly formatted citations and an art package, if it has one.  All publishers prepare manuscripts according to a particular style, i.e., rules for the mechanics of writing, such as spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, and will provide manuscript guidelines.  Make sure you follow them.

 Para Publishing Writing Your Book

  Author Marketing Questionnaire

Example Author Questionnaire  The moment an author begins working with the content editor and/or the publishing house places the book on the production schedule, the marketing and publicity departments are gearing up to promote the book. Publishers usually have the author fill out a marketing questionnaire at this point, which becomes the publisher's initial template to navigate to possible markets. Specifically, the information helps marketing, publicity, and sales to:

• Identify unique marketing, sales, and publicity opportunities.
• Decide how to position your book against the competition.
• Learn what direct support you can provide to establish the book in the marketplace.
• Develop a list of people for possible testimonials.
• Determine if there are any associates and professionals listed that can provide a forward for the book.

If you are self-publishing, the benefits of preparing this questionnaire are similar to that of the book proposal. It will help you determine your markets, reviewers, find important contacts, and get your promotional tent up and running.