The Many Unexpected Elements of Getting a Publisher for a Business Book

Published November 22nd, 2008

Read more novels and fewer business books.

–Tom Peters

Many people dream of having an international best seller. Naturally since most books never reach that status, writers and would-be authors can’t get enough information about how others did it.

As most authors discover, the reality is a lot different from the advice or what you read in magazines. There’s a lot of trial and effort involved. But if you keep plugging someone will either like your book or tell you how to make it better. Then, you have a beginning.

Here’s our story.

By early 1998, the book concept we then called The Future Before Its Time had gone from being a vague desire to write a book into a long manuscript on which Carol Coles, Robert Metz, and I had lavished much wordsmithing. To us, this material was obviously so good that every publisher in the world would soon be fighting over it. We coauthors were all very pleased with the results.

We asked Robert Metz to suggest how we might proceed with our manuscript. He said that there was one book agency that could turn our championship effort into an instant best seller. Robert didn’t know anyone there, but like the intrepid reporter he had always been, he called and made a contact.

We received from them a faxed form to fill out in order to be considered for representation. Robert felt that he couldn’t answer most of the questions, and I agreed to take on the task. Soon, I was stymied, too. Robert called back for more direction and was told to just do the best we could.

Eventually our 37 pages of answers were ready to go. We expectantly sent the answers off. We waited for weeks. Nothing happened.

When Robert called to check, his contact sheepishly revealed that the agency couldn’t represent us. The contact told Robert they had another author under contract who was working on a virtually identical book. Since Robert and I are both lawyers, we could understand the need to avoid a conflict of interest. We were glad that we had been in contact with such a reputable agency.

Of course, we still haven’t figured out what that virtually identical to ours book was. Perhaps it was just a proposal that didn’t sell.

Where should we go from there? Robert explained that the publishing business had changed a lot in the prior decade. Before many mergers, even tiny publisher had tried to have full list of books in every category. But with the shrinking number of publishers, many companies had chopped out business books.

As a result, there were now only a handful of places where business books like ours ever found a home. Although each of these publishers would accept submissions directly from us, Robert felt that we would do better if we could arrange an introduction.

Unfortunately, all of Robert’s former editors were no longer doing business books and could not help us. One of our clients was a business book publisher, and a contact through that client had previously led to a publishing contract. We felt that route would be a good one to follow again.

I also knew some successful business book authors and contacted them to see if they could introduce me to a publisher. Several were helpful, but one person was extremely so. He recommended his publisher very highly and gave me the contact information for all of the right people.

I called the person our friend had recommended, and she indicated that she was the wrong person to call. But she put me through to the correct person who was duly impressed by my mention of the man who sent me: His book was their featured title for the current catalog.

Again, a long list of questions to answer was faxed to me. I found that I could reuse some of the answers I had written for the agency that had turned us down.

What is a good method for today to avoid our mistakes?

Start with those editors and successful authors you know who write business books and tell them what you have in mind. Ask for their advice about agents and directly trying to place your book. This is the shortest and more secure route. I wish we had followed it sooner!

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at

http://www.2000percentsolution.com

Spread the Word