If you’re here, then there is a likely chance you want to write and publish a book one day. Becoming a well-known and bestselling author is, truthfully, a difficult career to break into. However, if writing and publishing book is something that aligns with your career goals, or even just personal goals, then getting your book to a publisher is the best way to start!
For many, you may be a little confused about the best direction or foundation to begin your journey in book-publishing. It’s important that you have all the required materials, questions, and answers when you want your book to sell. Here, Bookstr gives you a handy list of what you’ll need to pitch your book to a publisher!
1. Covering Letter
What is a covering letter? Well, think of it as a quick introduction to you and your book to your publishers. If you want your chosen publisher to support you in your book-publishing dreams, then you want them to have a clear idea of who you and your book are, including ideas, beliefs, messages, and values. Your cover letter should be no longer than a page, but below, you’ll find what encapsulates an ideal cover letter to appeal to your publisher.
2. Elevator Pitch
In this part of your cover letter, you’ll have to provide an elevator pitch. Here, you focus entirely on the book. What is the title? What is the genre? How would this book be something audiences would want to pick up at a bookstore? Essentially, your elevator pitch will be a quick, condensed summary of what your book or novel may be about, and short enough that you can pitch it in, well, an elevator ride!
3. An Idea of Your Future
You can include this in your cover letter or in your own statement given to your publisher. But consider before you pitch your novel, also: will this novel have additional sequels? Will your book be part of a series, a trilogy, or is it standalone? If your book is a standalone, you should think about if you’d want to write or publish more books after this one. When pitching your novel to your publisher, they would want to know further than just the current book you’d want published, and instead want to see an idea of what are the possibilities if they invest in you and your book pitch.
4. Novel Framework
This might be a given when pitching a book to your publisher, but it’s important that when pitching a book, you know what your book is about! Of course, you don’t have to uncover every crack and crevice of your novel, but you should know general ideas such as your characters, settings, time periods, and naturally, plot. What makes this novel special? What about this novel makes it a worthy investment? You will be asked at one point in your meeting to break down your book for your publisher, so it is vital that this information is something you are prepared about.
5. A Publisher that Matches your Book-writing Goals
This is where you’ll have to do a little research of your own. Not all publishers are the same, and each one can have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to what your book may need to be successful. You don’t want to be pitching your fantasy novel to an academic textbook publisher! When finding the perfect book publisher for your book-writing goals, you’ll need to get a literary agent to be able to represent you, too. Your book pitch, cover letter, and overall plan for your book’s success will have to stand out among a vast array of other book pitches and letters to get yourself a literary agent willing to represent your novel and help it get published. This is the time to figure out the type of publishers that are ideal for your novel. Think about what books the publisher already published, the authors they represent, and so on!
6. A Marketing Plan for your Publisher
When you’re pitching your book to a publisher, one of the factors they’ll really care about is how well your book is expected to sell! Make sure you have a marketing plan in your head or written out before you arrive to meet your publisher. What is your intended audience with your novel? How would your characters appeal to the book-buying market? Would there be ads? How do you want to commercialize your book through its cover? What about critic reviews? These are all important points of consideration to assist your publisher in the pitching of your novel if you want to be a successful author.
Of course, it’s also important that you remain genuine in your ambitions and writing voice! Publishers and readers will want to know who you are as an author and writer, not just what your book projects. Therefore, you should consider each of these elements when you’re out there marketing your book to publishers, but still stay true to your beliefs, values, and goals. We wish you the best with all your literarature-based goals and career ambitions!
For more tips on how to break into the book publishing, click here!