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
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
This is a picture of what I call our toy hospital. It’s a collection of things in our house that are broken–mainly toys, but also books, dishes, jewelry. Whenever something breaks at our place, we add it to the collection. And here and there, as we can, we pick up
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
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
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.
About a year ago I read a book that had a massive impact on the way I do life. It’s called The Accidental Creative (AL) by Todd Henry, and if you’re a friend who sees me regularly, you’re sick of hearing me talk about it. Among the practices Todd commends in the
Had a lot of fun in this interview with novelist Cynthia Herron. Check it out.
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
My boss, the publisher for multiple divisions at Baker Publishing Group, says this often: “The door to publishing is either swinging open, or it’s swinging closed.” He’s right. If you are a published author or aspire to be one, your chances of publishing are either getting better or worse all
So what is that for you? When you look at your life, your work, your spirituality, your marriage, your parenting, your house, your neighborhood, your mission, your travel—what is one little thing you can do? What’s the one thing you’re going to do soon to move forward? Don’t choose one
Dedicated to those affected by Hurricane Sandy “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. . . . If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I