Grumpy Old Bookman: Submit, don’t give up
Michael Allen attempts to get to grips with modern submission protocol
It’s a funny old world is publishing. For the past fifteen years I’ve mostly been publishing my own work so I haven’t needed to deal with traditional publishers. Recently, however, I’ve been trying to help a friend to get a book published in the old-fashioned way; and I’ve been surprised to discover how difficult this has become: difficult, that is, even to get a traditional firm to consider a book, let alone make an offer to publish it.
Choosing a suitable publisher to approach, for any book, is not too difficult in principle. One way is to go to Amazon and select a book which is similar to the one you’re marketing. That way identifies one publisher. Then you scroll down that book’s Amazon page and you come across a feature which lists books that are ‘frequently bought together’. And below that there is normally a list of books which ‘Customers who bought this item also bought.’ Clicking among these links will usually be enough to give you a few publishers to start with.