Help with my book project
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:33 am
Update on my Paul Yandell book.
When you approach a publisher most ask that you send a detailed cover letter describing your work and why you think it warrants publication. They routinely ask for two sample chapters and if they think the letter and chapters are marketable they ask for the whole manuscript.
This is called Making a Proposal.
Once you make your proposal you wait, anywhere from one to three months for the publisher to get to your submission and make a judgment on it. Some will tell you if they decline your proposal, some do not.
I took aim at Hal Leonard because of the way they did the Chet Atkins ‘Me and My Guitars’ book and “The Story of Paul Bigsby” mainly because of the way they threaded photos through the text and also had some full page photos. The books were a nice size and beautifully done.
Hal Leonard is one of the publishers that, due to the volume of submissions, ask for a three month wait and they do Not let you know if they decline your proposal.
Mid May will be my three month mark and I have yet to hear from them so I have to seriously start looking for other publishers to target. I’ve been compiling a spreadsheet of publishers who publish country biographies but I have yet to go to a bookstore and actually check out the way their end products look due to physical constraints. I have emphysema and moving around a lot gets to be quickly exhausting.
Here’s where you folks come in.
I’m asking those of you who buy and read biographies, (country biographies in particular) to look at their bookshelves and tell me who they think Hal Leonard’s closest competitor is in layout and production quality.
Hardcover is not a requirement. I’d like it to be a nice size and illustrated.
Any other suggestions are welcome…
Thenkewvurrymush
When you approach a publisher most ask that you send a detailed cover letter describing your work and why you think it warrants publication. They routinely ask for two sample chapters and if they think the letter and chapters are marketable they ask for the whole manuscript.
This is called Making a Proposal.
Once you make your proposal you wait, anywhere from one to three months for the publisher to get to your submission and make a judgment on it. Some will tell you if they decline your proposal, some do not.
I took aim at Hal Leonard because of the way they did the Chet Atkins ‘Me and My Guitars’ book and “The Story of Paul Bigsby” mainly because of the way they threaded photos through the text and also had some full page photos. The books were a nice size and beautifully done.
Hal Leonard is one of the publishers that, due to the volume of submissions, ask for a three month wait and they do Not let you know if they decline your proposal.
Mid May will be my three month mark and I have yet to hear from them so I have to seriously start looking for other publishers to target. I’ve been compiling a spreadsheet of publishers who publish country biographies but I have yet to go to a bookstore and actually check out the way their end products look due to physical constraints. I have emphysema and moving around a lot gets to be quickly exhausting.
Here’s where you folks come in.
I’m asking those of you who buy and read biographies, (country biographies in particular) to look at their bookshelves and tell me who they think Hal Leonard’s closest competitor is in layout and production quality.
Hardcover is not a requirement. I’d like it to be a nice size and illustrated.
Any other suggestions are welcome…
Thenkewvurrymush