While authors are responsible for creating and writing their books, many would not be as prosperous without the editors, agents, illustrators, and publishing companies behind them. When you’re looking to publish your book, you will need the best team to help push your skills to as many bookshelves as possible. How do you go about recruiting a winning publishing team?
Choose a Publishing Method
Authors will either self-publish or find a publishing company to represent their work. Both options have pros and cons, but your method of choice may change your needs in a publishing team. When you self-publish, as the title implies, you forgo the traditional publishing company for a cheaper, quicker experience where you control your book’s format, cover, marketing, and release. When you self-publish, you may not need a literary agent, and you obviously won’t need a publishing company. However, you’ll likely still need an editor, marketing team, and cover designer. When you publish through a traditional publisher, they will likely supply these professionals for you as a part of their publishing process. You will need to find a literary agent to negotiate your book and publishing deal with a traditional publisher on your behalf.
Consider the Genre
Regardless of your publishing method, your publishing team should be familiar with and have worked on the same genre as your book. If you’re going the traditional publishing route, the publishers you choose should have an impressive published list of similar successful books. Consider all of the genres your book spans to decide this. Nonfiction, fiction, romance, science, fantasy, and biography are all examples of genres. Your book may be a fictional fantasy novel or a nonfictional mathematics novel. Consider all your book’s themes and genres and evaluate whether the agent, editor, illustrator, or publisher has worked on this type of book before. Look at their past work and ask them directly in interviews for more insight.
Find Your Target Audience
Who is the primary audience of your book? Are you looking to cater to industry professionals? Entrepreneurs? Kids? Teenagers? Women? Men? Scientists? The LGBTQ+ community? There are many target audiences, and knowing the audiences your book will likely attract will help you market and choose relevant professionals. If you’re writing a children’s book, your primary audience will be kids. Your literary agent, editor, illustrator, and publisher should have experience working on children’s books. If your children’s book is edited or published by adult romance novel professionals, it may not get the editing or marketing it needs. If your book features LGBTQ+ characters, you may want to consider professionals in the gay community themselves or have championed the community in their resume or personal life. You won’t want someone with mixed feelings about the LGBTQ+ community working on your LGBTQ+ book.
Budget Ideal Rates
While we all would like an unlimited budget for recruiting a team, this isn’t a realistic fantasy. You’ll need to evaluate how much you can afford to pay each professional beforehand to give everyone (including yourself) an idea of the kind of experience to target. If you can’t afford to pay highly reputable and experienced professionals, you likely won’t recruit any. Budget what you can afford by subtracting your expenses from your income. Research the average rates for each professional you’re looking to hire to get a good idea of what you’ll need to pay. Be transparent and honest about your rates going into the recruitment process.
Research Publishers and Agents
There is an indefinite amount of literary professionals and publishing companies out there. You’ll need to research to get a good idea of what you’re looking for. Find out the typical rates and experience of both local and worldwide publishers and agents. Look for available agents, editors, and illustrators. Review their past work and experience to see if they would mesh well with yours. It can be challenging to narrow down the right professionals in a sea of excellent qualifications, but it helps to filter by their rate, experience, and availability. You can use job boards, literary-specific recruitment platforms, or search engines to get started.
Interview Many
You can and should meet with and interview many different candidates for the job—after all, you’re trusting them with your baby! Ask relevant questions about their experience, how they work, and the schedule they keep. Narrow down candidates one by one until you find the perfect fit. You can arrange a second interview if you have trouble choosing between a few. It’s not over until they accept your offer, so make sure you have some backup choices. There is no limit to the amount of professionals you can interview, as long as you have the time and patience—just make sure you value their time, as well.
Value Communication
Top industry professionals may be a great asset on paper, but if they don’t communicate well, they might not be an excellent fit for you. Make sure your team makes time for you and communicates often. You don’t need to expect a response the second you send an email, but as long as they are transparent and communicative, you likely will mesh well. You don’t want your editor to ghost you for months on end! Excellent communication skills can be a determining factor between two great candidates. Choose wisely.