When our clients are drafting book proposals, many of them tell us that the section that confounds them the most is the market competition section. After all, who enjoys staring their competition in the face?
Last week a university professor asked us, “Will print books still exist in ten years?” It was a provocative question intended to spark discussion. But when we stated emphatically that yes, of course they will, he wasn’t convinced.
We recently gave our Page Two website a refresh and an update. It took months of planning and writing, and it required the expertise of some of our close collaborators.
We’ve had a few clients recently inquire about buying libel insurance to protect themselves in the event of a lawsuit when their books are published. We didn’t immediately know where to send them.
The world of ebook conversion is mysterious to most of us. It’s difficult to imagine what goes into designing a file that’s versatile enough for display on many different devices. The standard ebook file format is called ePub, and it’s designed to be responsive and to automatically adjust to the screen size of any e-reader, computer, smartphone or tablet.
Inevitably at some point, our self-publishing clients ask whether they should distribute their ebook exclusively through Kindle, or whether they should take a different approach. In most cases, we advise selling to a variety of ebook retailers.
Your substantive editor is the person who will review your manuscript to ensure the content and structure are clear. As we’ve explained in a previous post, substantive editing involves looking at big-picture things such as narrative and character development, pacing, consistency of voice, and chapter organization.
Many of our clients are not professional writers. They are entrepreneurs and leaders in the fields of technology, parenting, politics, business, sports, and science. They’re used to writing reports and other longish documents, but writing a non-fiction book for a general audience requires a different skill set.
When we became literary agents, an inquisitive child we know asked if we’d have to start wearing hats. It took us a while to realize why he was asking that question. In many of the cartoons he’d watched, agents have a specific role: they are secret agents — mysterious people wearing fedoras and trench coats, whose briefcases contain intelligence that can crack open big cases and change the world.
These days there’s an endless barrage of articles about why traditional publishers are horrible (they’re not.), and why self-publishing is a bad idea (it’s not).
So you’re publishing your book and you’re wondering how to make it stand out from the other 600,000 new books published in North America over the last year. You’re not alone. One of the biggest issues publishers and self-publishers are grappling with these days is how to make readers aware that their books exist.
We’re pretty quick to admit our biases at Page Two. If we had a written list, great editing would be at the very top of it. We’re always in favour of editorial work, no matter who the writer is or what length of text she’s working with.
