The Book Publishing Process: Why Publishers Won't Market Your Book For You

A publisher is not a non-profit. It’s a business. 

When you bring a book proposal to a publisher and try to get a deal, you’re making a business proposition. You are saying, hey want to get into business with me? 

And if your business sucks, then the answer is likely to be no. 

That might seem harsh, but most people have no clue about the volume of people with a great book idea who want to be published. There’s a lot of you and therefore, a lot of competition. Since last April, over 150 people have applied to work with me. I only handle a tiny sliver of the overall publishing market, but turn away lots of people (85% of those who apply). 

One reason I turn down people is because of their visibility and audience, or lack thereof. I talk to self-published authors a few times a month who come into our call already discouraged because their book didn’t magically sell. This problem is almost always directly related to that author not having an audience of their own. 

Marketing a book without an audience like having a business with no paying clients or customers. Without an established market and audience prior to publication, your book is sunk. Publishers know that. Unfortunately, most have had LOTS of experience with books that didn’t sell. The majority of books, including those that are self-published, sell less than 5,000 copies even when the author has an established platform and audience. 

The reason for this is simple: there are a lot of books available to read. 

(As well as a ton of other options for people to choose from when they’ve got a problem to solve or want to be entertained.) 

Traditional book publishers don’t have the time, resources or frankly the responsibility to figure out who will be interested in or benefit from your book. Nor do they have the capability to build an audience for you. That applies to agents, too. 

I’m gonna say it again: traditional publishers publish books for profit. 

Sometimes that includes coming up with the idea and the audience. 

Most of the time it doesn’t.

Every time a publisher offers a book deal to an author, they’re placing a bet. Their approach is to make a broad variety of calculated bets, hoping that some find their audience and become bestsellers.

What you can do — and what is entirely within your control as an author — is to learn the rules of the game and make your bet as sure as possible. So, you might ask — how do you make your bet as sure as possible? 

By being visible. 

By knowing your audience inside and out.

By understanding that publishing is a business proposition — and that you are going to set both yourself and the publisher up to profit by doing everything you can to make your book (and likely your business too) a success.