The Basics of Building a Platform
Lack of platform (which here can be defined as your ability to help a publisher promote your book) is the number 1 reason we turn books down at Baker, and I’m sure we’re not alone. It’s simply easier to come across solid concepts and great writing than it is to find an influential platform. While […]
How to Write a Compelling Bio for Your Book Proposal
Growing up, my family had a running joke. Whenever someone asked for a tissue, invariably the response came back: “Tissue? I don’t even know you!” Publishers invest a lot more than a tissue’s worth in the books they publish, so it’s important for them to know who they’re working with. That is why your bio […]
Heartfelt Thanks and the Big Reveal
This is so hard! I received over twenty submissions for book proposal coaching, and picking just one to work on is killing me. What’s even more intense is that I find myself really connecting with all the yearning these submissions reflect. You all have such great stories and aspirations. What I hate—what I really cannot […]
Book Proposal Coaching Update
Just a quick update on the book proposal coaching opportunity. (If you have no idea what this about, click here.) I have received about 20 entries so far, and several come in each day. It is such a blast learning about you and what you want to write books on. This is already the coolest thing I’ve done […]
How to Come Up with a Great Book Concept
Let me start with three reasons working on a book with a lousy concept is a bad idea: Beautiful, compelling writing is terribly important to publishers, but if your beautiful writing is in the service of a concept that no one will buy, publishers will have a hard time getting excited. A far-reaching platform is […]
Why the Right Motivation Matters for Your Book Proposal
Over the next several posts I want to provide a more or less step-by-step process for creating a compelling book proposal. I will do my best to make the process as practical and simple as I can. If you have a book proposal in process, or if you have been thinking about trying to get […]
New Data, New Insights
Earlier this year Baker Books sent a survey to about 15,000 of our readers, and we were pleased to see a solid response. I want to share a few findings from one of the questions that I hope others will find as interesting as I did. (Special props go to the brilliant Scott Belsky for […]
The Not-Very-Sexy Essential to Your Book’s Mind-Blowing Success
I had just done my best to present a proposed book, and now I was sweating it. This has to be one of the most nerve-wracking duties of an acquisitions editor—presenting book projects to pub board and then responding to colleagues’ onslaught of comments and questions. All fifteen or so people in the room understand […]
Why Asking Why Is So Important
In 1939 Herman Baker was twenty-eight years old. He had a young family and a steady job working for his uncle, Louis Kregel. Everyone would have expected him to continue in that job, providing for his family and moving up the company ranks. It was, after all, the Great Depression. Herman was lucky to have […]
21 Ways to Promote Your Book without Being a Scuzzball
With some regularity I hear from authors who say something like, “I don’t want to promote my book because I don’t want people to think this is about me.” I understand the sentiment, and actually I deeply respect it. But there are two problems: 1. Book promotion is not about the author; it’s about the […]