Shaun Groves
If I could go back in time, to 2000, and meet with my former label for the first time all over again there are so many questions I would ask knowing what I know today about how the music business really works. The music business, you see, has very little to do with music. it has everything to do with strategic relationship, distribution deals, radio relationships, retail budgets, and marketing. Definitely marketing. And more marketing. And, of course, money. All of this involves money and lots of it.
Having a label whose employees cheer for you, love you, hype you is meaningless without marketing genius and the money to make it a reality.
Is that how the book business works? I’m about to find out. Or try to.
I’ve asked for a meeting with my possible future publisher – a meeting with their marketing department. I want to know where their boundaries are. What are their limitations? Financial limits. Creative limits. I want to know their strengths and weaknesses. I want to know how they like the word “free” because I like it a great deal. I want to know how they feel about input, about Seth Godin, about permission marketing, and Web 2.0 and why they have nothing on the best-sellers lists I’m been watching. Why?
To me, signing a contract with a corporation is a marriage. And before we jump in bed together I want to know what she looks like with her make-up off. What’s behind the pitch? What is this team really like?
I know there a couple or three authors lurking about this blog from time to time. I’m hoping you guys (and gals) can give me some guidance on what questions to ask and how to ask them. What do I need to know? What questions will I wish I asked seven years from now?
Grovesfan says:
Maybe this is an obvious one, but for me, I’d want to know what it is they expect to accomplish by publishing my work; what message to they want to convey and want me to convey; who are they targeting; what kind of freedom do I have in editing, etc.?
Beth
euphrony says:
Probably a few you’ve already mulled over, but how much ownership of the work do I have as author (i.e. control for pricing, offers, distribution, how much you yourself can use the work in other areas in which you work, etc.) and the editing control that Beth mentioned. You have to know what they want from your book, so you will know where they want to change it, soften it for appeal. I’ve written several technical papers, and some journals take ownership of the paper while others leave it with the author. Big difference, in that when I own the paper I can freely use it in other papers, whereas with journal ownership I am limited in how much of my own work I can use/reuse.
J.R. Briggs says:
Shaun –
I think you are asking the right questions already. But here are a few I would add.
I would ask them:
(1) Book sales aside, what does ‘success’ look like in this author/publisher relationship?
(2) What are the expectations that you have of me as an author?
(3) Can I have dinner in your dining room with your family? (This may sound like a strange one, but I’ve found that if I haven’t met some of the families behind the publisher I don’t really know them in the first place. One author told me that she won’t sign with a publishing house until she has the night in the home of someone on the editorial or marketing team – or the president of the publishing company…kind of interesting). [If you want more information/context on this one, just email me].
(4) We all know that this is a business…but describe to me what the ministry side looks like for this publishing company?
(5) AFTER the book has been published, what sort of relationship do we have? (Many an author have been courted quite seriously before publication and then they never hear from the publisher once the book hits the shelves).
I would ask yourself:
(1) What does ‘success’ look like for me?
(2) What are my expectations that I have of the publishing company? Have I clearly expressed that to them?
(3) Which do I value more if I had to choose one: relationships with the staff or the professionalism of the company?
I’ve had to ask all of these before…and I am in the process of asking these same questions with another potential (future) publishing company currently.
Hope this helps.
J.R.