publisher to incorporate that primary professional polish and work on marketing the book together?”
That’s where Goldminds has found its success. They don’t take any fees from authors, and refer to themselves as a traditional contract and royalty based publishing house. They look for quality manuscripts, unique stories or subject matter, and a relationship with an author that will join the team and help promote the book.
In the new publishing paradigm, an author’s work doesn’t end with writing the book. She needs strategies to market and sell that book in the next phase.
“It takes more than just having a website, email list, and Facebook page,” Anderson says. “They have to know how to use them and use them wisely and efficiently. They need to know where their audience is, how to find them, and how to utilize the social media in a productive way so that they are not just spinning their wheels.”
CHANGING TIMES
Anderson, also an author, who has had three books published by Penguin Random House, has felt the pain of the changing book industry and takes pride in helping authors avoid mistakes and focusing on the reality.
“The number one way to sell books has always been either media reviews or store placement, depending on the type of book it was,” Anderson says. “That hardcover original usually got reviewed by major periodicals, which was the ‘free ad’ that exposed the title to book buyers all over the world. Paperbacks, however, specifically the mass market paperback, received very few reviews, but were front and center on the newsstands and got priceless exposure. Marketing outside of that, either by the publisher or author, or both, helped contribute to the book’s success. There have been a lot of good books over the years that lost the race due to the fact that most authors just sat on their haunches and didn’t market their book, i.e. book events or similar forms of publicity. Now that the game has changed, even the big houses rely more on the latter because of the competition for readers.”
So how does Goldminds find those authors? Just like the old days, it begins with a compelling manuscript.
“Whether it’s an illustrated children’s book, a novel, or nonfiction,” Anderson says, “in order for Goldminds to accept it, it has to be professionally written. If we love the book, then we talk to the author about marketing before we approach the idea of a publishing contract. We ask for a one-page minimum marketing plan, and it also needs to be compelling.
Online promotion is a swarm of activity, and standing out takes some skills.
If the author is on the right track, then we can combine our marketing skills to make it a fruitful project for everyone.”
CHANGING PATTERNS
The types of books that sell in today’s market are also a factor Goldminds considers when accepting a manuscript.
“Though we wished we could accept anything that is to our liking,” Anderson says, “unfortunately some books are very difficult to sell online. The classic genre western, for example, appeals to a demographic that is not a big online shopper nor do they read many eBooks. Some do, but the percentage is not lucrative. Genre fiction in itself typically has a low price point that we can’t achieve in trade paperback, so we avoid anything in that category. But if there is a strong mainstream appeal, it has a chance.”