Anyone know any book publisher editors?

[JamesDad]

My husband of 25 years, JamesDad, a woodworking fanatic, who first started lurking in this forum after he bought a BT3 power tool, told me all of you are the nicest and kindest people he has seen. He is addicted to this forum - he insists on reading "Around the coffee pot" every night when he gets home from work. He bragged to me that I could find out just about anything from the people in this forum. I told him I would put that to the test. Here is my challenge to you: I am writing a book to help kids learn better and be more successful in school, based on 20 years of professional corporate training experience and 10 years of home schooling experience, and have written a nice query letter [asks if the publisher is interested] and a very detailed 80 page proposal to send to any interested executive editor at a publishing house that prints parenting books. I have one published book already that was published by Avery in New York. It is a psoriasis related book.

Only one publisher has asked for the proposal in response to the dozen or so query letters I have sent out. No response from the others. Some of the largest publishers listed in Writers' Market do not even list the name of an editor to address a query letter to, so I do not want to waste a stamp to send a letter that will be put in a slush pile never to be seen again. Anyone here know any executive editors at a major publishing firm that they are willing to refer me to so I can send a query letter for my book to them?

Thank you for your help.
Wife of JamesDad

[bmyers]

Your hubby is right on this one. You can find out just about anything with this forum.

What I think you really need is a book agent. An agent has the connections to editors at publishing houses so that you do not end up the in slush file, unread.

A book agent is going to want to see a book proposal that they can shop around to various publishing companies. Look at some "get published" books to get ideas for a good book proposal.

If you see books in your target market, try to get in touch with the author to see if they have an agent. Get in touch with that agent and see if they'll represent you.

I got lucky and had a book agent contact me about publishing a book with some content that he thought was interesting that my friends and I had written. He talked us through writing a proposal and shopped it around to publishing companies that he had connections with. 15 "No thank you"'s and one "yes" is all it takes..


Good luck!

Bill

*please forgive any grammatical mistakes in this email. I'm an author, not an editor...*

[Tom Hintz]

In many of the larger publishinghouses there is no single editor but rather a group that reviews manuscripts/proposals. Most of the publishers have directions on their web sites for submitting book ideas if not a direct link or form for doing so.

Good luck!

[crokett]

I was gonna say there is a guy here who has published a book. I went looking for the book and now see Bill has already posted.

You can also search Google on self-publishing. There are a ton of resources on doing that and print-on-demand.

[Brian G]

I asked LOML for some input.

For Wife of JamesDad. Hi, I’m Wife of Knuckles!

I’m excited about your quest to publish your book because I’m in the process of having my first book published in October. Mine is a juvenile chapter book, so we’re writing in different genres, but perhaps some of the things I’ve learned will help you.

Like you, I used the Writers’ Market as my reference book to find a publisher. I didn’t pay any attention to the size or location of the publisher, but rather just focused on finding a company that published the type of book I had written. On my first pass, I identified 20 publishers that I thought would be my best fit, and I did my first mailing to those 20.

It’s VERY important that you pay attention to what they say they want with regard to a cover letter and/or a synopsis and sample chapters. Each one has different requirements and I had read elsewhere that they might reject a manuscript simply because it doesn’t pass their submission guidelines. For example, if they say they want three chapters, send three chapters. If you haven’t written three chapters yet and your book is still in proposal form - don’t send it to them.

Some publishers wanted the entire manuscript, others wanted only a cover letter and synopsis. I also took the time to look at the website of each publisher I was sending my manuscript to because I could make mention of something else in their collection in my cover letter. Since you’re only sending to publishers that print parenting books, you can earn brownie points by referring to another book as if you were inspired by it (even if you’ve never actually heard of it before).

Don’t shy away from the smaller publishers. The one that picked up my book only publishes 13 books a year, but because of that I’m getting all kinds of personal attention from them. I may aspire to someday publish at one of the big houses, but this is where I’m getting my foot in the door.

Also don’t hesitate to send to publishers for which no individual name is mentioned for acquisitions. Many of the ones I sent to were addressed to “Acquisitions Editor” and I think that’s par for the course. I think they often have a staff of readers that are the first filter before they send them on to the editors, but that doesn’t mean it sits in a slush pile. They all get read by somebody. What you have to hope is that the person who reads your proposal likes what he or she reads. But that’s also true even if you have your script addressed to a specific name.

And ALWAYS send a self-addressed stamped envelope along with each query. It all adds up the cost, but remember you can write it all off on your taxes when the money starts to roll in. Save all those receipts!

Definitely make a reference to your prior published book in your cover letter. Although most publishing houses work with first time authors all the time I imagine it is a plus for them if you are experienced and have some proven track record.

By the way, many of the publishers I have sent my letter/manuscript to have taken 8 months to respond. I mailed off 20 at one time and then set to work on my next book while the “thanks but no thanks” letters trickled in. By the time the first 20 had all come back in, I had a second book done so I was doing two mailings at once. I sent the original one off to 20 new addresses while I also identified 15 publishers for my second book. Some of them were the same publisher but I sent them under separate cover. One book was fiction, one was non-fiction.

I had received almost all of the second 20 rejection letters by the time I got the call from the publisher that accepted my work. Perseverance pays off! Now I’m preparing a second mailing for my second book while working on the third.

I think the biggest single piece of advice is to do your homework and only select publishers that actually publish your type of book and are actually accepting submissions. Don’t waste your time or theirs by just sending it off with your fingers crossed. Obviously if you have an agent - they’ll do that work for you, but until then you can do it yourself without paying someone a percentage. I’d like to get an agent someday to make my work easier, but in the meantime, many authors get published without them.

Just for kicks I skimmed through my 2007 copy of Writers’ Market and came up with three publishers that are looking for the type of material you have written. Check out “Charles Press,” “Perigree Books,” and “Taylor Trade Publishing” to start with. I’m sure there are many more.

Best of luck to you!

Lynn

[JamesDad]

Taylor Trade said to send a proposal for the book

FYI - Taylor Trade finally got back to me and asked for a proposal. Thanks for the info. I did not even notice them in the Writer's Market book I have.

JamesDad's wife

[Stytooner]

Well, howdy and good luck on meeting your goals with this. It certainly can be done.
I did have the privilege of working in a group of Cartoonists to illustrate some children's books for a particular writer. I did about 6 that were finally published. These were K through 2 reading levels. The writing was really nothing spectacular, but the drawings are all outstanding.

The guy in charge of the groups name is Joe King. (not his real name, but cartooning pen name) Here is another Joe King that is not related to Joe #1, but is related to wood working.
Joe #1 used to work for Mattel designing toys and packaging and now has a few cartoon strips printed weekly in magazines and some newspapers. He is also a good Editor by his own right and not just artwork.
He is now affiliated with Trafford Publishing.

If I were wanting or had the time to get into books, I might check out these guys. They do quality work.

Good luck, congratulations to both of you and above all, have some fun with it.

[bmyers]

Congratulations! You on you're way. Someone before gave the advice of writing the proposal according to what the publisher wants and that is excellent advice. If they want 3 chapters, give them 3 chapters. If they just want an outline, don't send the whole book (if it's written yet)..

And by all means enjoy it. It's a wonderful experience to hold your published book in your hands.

Good luck and post the ISBN when it's published!

Bill