I know I've written around this a few times, but never very succinctly. Recently I've had another influx of people asking me how to go about it, so I've tried to come up with a definitive list. This is just based on my experience, but hopefully it'll be helpful!
Pick a publisher: look at books that
you already have and like the style of, chances are if you like their
aesthetic, they’ll like yours.
Prepare:
·
Synopsis – what the book will be about, why
you’d like to write it
·
Contents
- what you will have in the book; intro, chapters, patterns etc
·
Introduction – sample text of what you’d write
·
Sample Patterns – 2 or 3 projects to give them
an idea of your pattern writing competency and style, you ideally want a
minimum of 35 patterns altogether
·
Yarn colours/brands – the more info you can give
them up front, the better, different countries use different brands, so try and
make sure you have something that everyone can access
Send it all
off and wait and see what happens!
Things to be
aware of:
A publishing
house will have a list of the sort of the books that they want release for the
next 2 years, if your proposal doesn’t fit into that list they may well reject
it. It doesn’t mean it’s
bad!! It just means you need to
keep trying until you find a publisher that IS looking for something like it.
Having a
blog, social media etc with stats that can show that your patterns have a
market, are a useful in convincing someone to offer you a book deal. For example, I list free patterns every
now and then, and know from the stats on blogger that some have been downloaded
at least 40k times.
Selling
patterns or getting them featured in mags/online is another useful thing to
have on your ‘CV’, and will help give a publisher confidence in your
marketability.
You have no
say over creative control. You may
have a book in your head – it won’t be the same as there’s. They are the experts at this, you have
to just trust them and let them do their thing. Essentially you are just a pattern writer, they will direct
the layout, colour, photography, aesthetic, font, design, EVERYTHING. They will also edit your text, patterns
and style to fit in to the market they want to sell to. My advice is ‘let go’ and you’ll get on
fine. If the idea of this makes
you unhappy then maybe self-publishing is a better way forward.
This is a great post. Thank you for all the info and tips. I will be coming back to this when I am ready to submit to publishers. Thanks :) Dianna
ReplyDeleteWww.artsydaisycrochet.com
This is a great post. Thank you for all the info and tips. I will be coming back to this when I am ready to submit to publishers. Thanks :) Dianna
ReplyDeleteWww.artsydaisycrochet.com
Really happy to help, there's still heaps to learn with every new book too! Xxx
DeleteReally happy to help, there's still heaps to learn with every new book too! Xxx
DeleteReally happy to help, there's still heaps to learn with every new book too! Xxx
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ReplyDeleteSorry for being so tardy to respond! Thank you for such lovely comments, hope it helps xxx
DeleteSorry for being so tardy to respond! Thank you for such lovely comments, hope it helps xxx
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