A Different Way of Doing Business

I get a lot of referrals from clients, which, of course, I absolutely love. In fact, just last month (or maybe the month before) I signed a new client who came through a referral. But I digress.

The reason I’m writing this post is because there is definitely a different way of doing business in every industry, and publishing is no exception. When a nonfiction client refers me or introduces me (usually through email) to a potentially new writer, almost inevitably the writer follows up with an email suggesting times when we should talk on the phone. She always has a list of book ideas she’d like to discuss and I never get the feeling she has a book proposal.

Frankly, I still haven’t quite figured out how I want to handle these situations. More often than not these phone calls end with me saying that the idea sounds viable, and rarely do I ever see a proposal when I tell the author that’s what I would need. Now, I’ve scheduled time out of my day to have the call, wasted time explaining the business to an author, and nothing much comes from it.

So I’ve responded via email instead, explaining how the process works in publishing and letting the author know I’d need to hear more about the book. The author, of course, seems miffed that I can’t take the time for a phone call and, again, I never see a proposal.

Most of the authors I experience this with are business authors, and obviously they are doing business in the way they are used to. I don’t think it’s wrong, it just doesn’t necessarily work for publishing.

Jessica

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