Selling Your Book to Book Clubs - Increasing the Odds

Author : Ink Tree Ltd.

What is a book club sale? It is actually a rights sale or a
licensing agreement: you are granting permission to a book club
the right to “borrow” your work. You have written a book, and
now you are allowing a book club to print and distribute your
book to its members.

You allow the book club to reprint your book in a specific
language, in a specific format, for a specific period of time,
in a specific geographic territory, to a specific group of
people. You ensure in your contract that you maintain ownership
of the copyright and of all other intellectual property rights,
such as electronic, movie, other languages and territories, and
serial rights â€" to name a few. Always seek good legal advice
before signing a contract.

There are many book clubs, but most of the major clubs fall
under the bookspan umbrella (www.bookspan.com). To find other
book clubs that are appropriate for your book, do an internet
search: on your browser, type in +(your book genre, e.g.,
cooking)+book+club.

The chances of having your book selected by a book club are
roughly one in ten, which is really quite good. Imagine if your
chance at winning the lottery was that great!

Tip #1 for increasing the odds:

It is important to know that book clubs are always looking for
new ideas to entice their members, so if your book is well
written and edited, has plans for professional graphic design,
AND demonstrates a unique slant on your topic, your chances of
being selected rise considerably.

Tip #2 for increasing the odds:

In saying that, it is important for you to know that the earlier
you submit your book, the better.

Tip #3 for increasing the odds:

Book clubs are much happier receiving a typed manuscript six to
twelve months in advance of your publication date than receiving
a bound galley or finished book close to the publication date. A
book club likes to introduce your book to its members near your
publication date in order to take advantage of the reviews and
publicity that you will be generating when your book is
launched. The bigger the media splash you make, the better
everyone’s sales will be.

Tip #4 for increasing the odds:

There are many categories of book clubs, so be sure to submit
your title only to the appropriate clubs. Do not send your book
to every book club that you can find. Each club’s membership has
specific interests so be sure to submit your book only to clubs
that might buyâ€"you will again increase your chance of being
selected.

For instance, if you have a humor book, it’s unlikely to be of
any interest to a cooking club or to a mathematics club. If your
book is regional, it will not likely appeal to a general
interest book club, so submit that a regional title to suitable
specialty clubs.

Tip #5 for increasing the odds:

There are rules to follow when submitting your book to the book
clubs, so following them carefully should avoid unnecessary
rejections.

Here they are:

1. Send your manuscript to the Editorial department at the
appropriate club(s).

2. Include a cover letter that details the following information:

• summary of the book contents

• description of the book (size, binding, hard/soft cover, black
& white or color)

• expected selling price

• number of pages

• number and type of photographs and/or illustrations (indicate
if black & white or color

• notation if the book will be part of a series

• which volume the book is in an existing series and a sales
history of the series

• intended publication date

• plans for publicity and promotion, and your intended budget

3. Include a brief author biography written in the third person.
Be sure to talk about any previous books published and their
sales histories.

4. Send photocopies of some of the illustrations and
photographs. Please do not send original copies â€" they will NOT
be returned to you.

5. Don’t forget your contact information and website if you have
one.

Unfortunately, you cannot contact book clubs to follow up on
your submission. It’s a case of “Don’t call us. We’ll call you”.
Book clubs receive too many submissions to allow follow up calls
or letters. If they are interested, they will call you, usually
within two to six months.

Do you think that a book club sale is worth pursuing?
Absolutely! We specialize in book club and other non-traditional
book sales (more info here: Book Marketing Secrets). For very
little effort you can achieve the sale of thousands of copies of
your book. You will likely be paid a minimum sum per copy, but
you will also not have any production costs, and a small sum
multiplied by thousands can equate to a very nice check. Your
only effort will be to sign a contract, provide your book on
disk and collect that check â€" and just think of the free
publicity! Thousands of book club members will read about your
book. You can’t buy that kind of publicity!

© Copyright 2004 Ink Tree Ltd. Ink Tree Ltd. helps authors
publish, market and sell books. We have all the tools you need
to succeed in book publishing. Let us help you make your book a
success. http://www.inktreemarketing.com

Category : Credit