Associate Publisher Interview ~ Chip MacGregor, Part II

Can you explain the process a publishing board goes through in deciding to publish a book?

We generally start by drawing a pentagram on the floor in goat’s blood…oh, wait. You probably don’t need that much detail, right? Okay, let me give you the big picture. I’m going to assume you mean the editor has already worked with the author and agent to get the proposal in shape, so that it already has a salable idea, strong writing, and a clear sense of the author’s platform.

The first hoop to jump through is always that of finding an editor who actually likes your proposal. The editor will then generally bring the idea to an editorial group meeting, just to bat it around with other editors and get ideas for improving it (or to be told nobody else likes the idea or the writing…or maybe they just don’t like the author).

The next step is to refine the proposal and, at least at our house, to bring it before our Nashville group so as to get recommendations from somebody in sales and somebody in marketing. Assuming it gets past that group, the proposal is then brought to our Pub Board – the final authority on which books we’ll choose to publish. Our PubCom is a broad group – a handful of key sales people, some representatives from our marketing and advertising division, our business manager, our publisher, even the president of our company. That means there is a conglomeration of people from both Nashville and our NY offices, and we come together to discuss the viability of the projects that have made it this far.

Everybody has read the proposal beforehand, and done research on the author and the idea, so we all come ready to discuss it. (Really. As a matter of fact, I was always surprised when I would talk to CBA sales types, and they would admit to not being readers. I know of one publisher who offered a cash bonus to any sales rep who showed up at a pub board meeting having read a book by the author they were considering. I’m not exaggerating. And these are the guys you’re relying on to get your books into the stores… Fortunately, HBG/USA has a reputation for having one of the strongest sales teams in the industry.)

Anyway, at that meeting the editor who has worked with the author and agent presents the book, introduces everyone to the author, and talks a bit about the unique strengths of the project. Sales makes their projections, marketing talks about the promotional opportunities, and we basically try to come to agreement – Can we publish this book successfully? Does it fit our publishing program? Is it a big idea? Do we like the writing? Does the author have a track record? Is there a built-in market for the project? Who will buy it? How will we market it? In the end, the decision is largely made on group enthusiasm based on our research and discussion.

I sometimes don’t agree with the decision, but I’d say in the huge majority of cases the bulk of us are in agreement, whether it is thumbs up or thumbs down. We make the decision then and there, after that it’s up to the editor to either share the bad news or negotiate a deal with the agent.

Besides stellar writing, what can an author do to increase their chances of getting a book contracted?

Hate the question. It makes it sound like there is a trick, and if the potential writer learns the trick, he or she can also get published. In my view, that’s a crock. Every book proposal needs three things: a great idea, great writing, and a great author platform. Rarely a publisher will agree to do a book based on just one of those factors (for example, a celebrity book based solely on the fact that the author is well known), but they will often make the decision based on two factors.

So if you’ve got a great idea, by all means begin working to build a great platform, and spend time working on the craft in order to become a better writer. I have often seen pretty good book ideas presented to me that are attached to terrible writing by unknown authors. And the fact is, I can’t buy your book based on the fact that you woke up with a good idea. In my experience, good ideas occur all the time. The rare event is when a writer with a good idea determines to put in the time required and express that idea in a coherent and entertaining manner.

So this question actually skips over an important point: the easiest thing for an author to do in order to get published is to improve the craft of his or her writing. There are a million venues for doing that – critique groups, writer conferences, mentors, books, classes, etc. Again, I feel as though the reason most wannabe authors remain unpublished is because they just aren’t willing to put in the time, to do the hard work and become better at the craft of writing. In other words, laziness will keep you from being a great writer. Given the chance, inertia will dominate. And then you can make yourself feel better by saying, “I COULD have been a great writer, if only I’d put my mind to it.” It reminds me of the high school student who waits to write his paper until the night before it is due. Then he stays up all night, bangs it out, gets a C+, but tells himself, “That’s because I waited. If I would have started earlier, I’d have gotten an A.” It’s a gentle way of lying to ourselves.

If you want to get published, the BEST thing you can do it to become a better writer. As I’ve said a million times, greatness will out. I don’t know of any great writer who goes unpublished.

Okay, but your question was what will improve the odds aside from becoming a better writer…and the answer is simply, “Work on those other two areas.” But I hate saying that. Why? Because I don’t like telling people, “Come up with better ideas.” It just seems lame, like telling me to dunk a basketball or suggesting that I try to look “more like Brad Pitt.” Some things are simply out of my range.

Truth be told, I don’t really know where good ideas come from. Sometimes they come from research (“we found that 47% of readers at Borders wanted to see someone use science-based murder investigation procedures on the Waco incident”), other times from looking at the culture (“we saw all the interest in American Idol, so we decided to do a novel based on that storyline”). Often great ideas come from our own needs (“I never knew how to study my Bible, so I researched and came up with a great plan for teaching yourself Bible study methods”). And sometimes you can just look at classic books and realize our culture needs it’s own voice on the topic (“no 25 year old mom wants to hear what a 70 year old grandpa has to say about raising little kids – we decided to find a young, fresh parenting expert”). But I don’t have some secret for generating great ideas. They just come – and they’re not all equal. Perhaps the best thing that happens to a mature writer isn’t just the ability to write with more clarity, but to evaluate the worth of all the ideas they come up with and focus on the real winners.

I’m also not a huge fan of talking to authors about their platform. It’s just not my area of expertise, and I feel pretty lame saying to people, “Become famous. Go get yourself your own TV show or establish yourself as an expert speaker.” There are plenty of other people who do a great job of explaining this (Ellie Kay is a fine example in CBA – check out her tapes at conferences), so I’ll leave it to the experts.

One more thing needs to be said about this
topic… 90% of the stuff I reject is rejected for one reason: it isn’t good
enough.

The idea is weak or trite or unclear. The writing is elementary or pedantic or flowery. The author has no platform and no plans to get one. Compare writing to playing the piano – you wouldn’t sit down at a piano one morning, plunk out some notes, and expect that by the afternoon somebody should be paying to hear you play. You probably wouldn’t assume that your first attempt at composing a melody line will have much depth or be musical genius.

To create something good enough that people will pay money to hear you play it will require a huge investment on your part. Hours of practice, every day, for years. Experienced teachers. A broad array of musical influences. Even then, there is no guarantee you’re any good – innate talent plays a role in your career choices. Using that as a contrast, why would we expect a newbie writer to be any good? Why would you assume that, because you thought up a plot line, it has some element of quality to it? Let me suggest that you can do yourself a favor by doing some self-editing (not all your ideas are great) and by getting some perspective (listening to others tell you that not all your ideas are great). But stop looking for “the secret that will get you published” and start treating this like any other art form.

What is your pet peeve when it comes to the business of publishing?

1. “My best friend told me this is a fabulous idea. She’s a cook at our local junior high.” (Hint: Your friends love you. They’re not going to say anything bad about your writing. They probably also don’t know diddly about writing or publishing.)

2. “I can turn this manuscript in the first of August. I need the book out by the start of my conference speaking in October.” (Hint: Most major houses require your completed manuscript to be turned in twelve months before copies hit store shelves. Yes, we can sometimes crash the schedule for a timely or important book…but you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to do that. Wise up. You’re better off having that long lead time – it allows the marketing department to create buzz for your book, the sales department to talk with their accounts about your title, the publicity department to get your book reviewed, and the editorial department to thoroughly work out all the manuscript problems. When you try to speed that up, you increase the probability of errors in all parts of that system. Patience is a virtue. In publishing, it’s a necessity.)

3. “I would NEVER allow you to cross-collateralize my contract! I read on the View that it’s the tool of Satan!” (Hint: Do you have any idea what it costs for Hachette to produce your book? Not just the advance, but the investment of personnel and time? Publishing is a partnership. Allowing me to spread our risk over a couple or three books makes it more likely you’re going to actually get published. Besides, if you can’t explain what cross-collateralizing is, you probably don’t understand it enough to be talking it down. It’s intellectually dishonest – like criticizing people from another country for doing something that doesn’t make sense without ever studying them to understand their culture.)

How true is the adage it’s all in who you know? Is networking really that important?

OF COURSE networking is important. Good grief. Name the job in this country where networking is unimportant. (I’m waiting. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) Let’s say I have one slot to fill and two equally worthy projects. One of them is from a person I don’t know. The other is from a person I’ve met, who has made an effort to get to know me and my company. A writer who has proven she knows how to listen to advice and put it into practice in her work. Someone I met at a writers conference and was impressed by her insight. An individual I like, who I’m comfortable with, who has proven she’s not a pain. [Gina: oh shoot, until the "not a pain" part, I was so sure you were talking about me.] Given that scenario, and the fact that the two ideas are of equal worth to me, the writing in both proposals is good, and the platforms about the same…who do I choose? Who would you choose?

Get to know people in the industry. Go to industry events. Attend writer conferences. Stop to introduce yourself to people. Be prepared to talk knowledgably about books and writing. Rub shoulders with people. Have a conversation about normal life – don’t make it seem like your book is the start and end of your life. You’re going to find some editors and publishers become friends. I met Julie Barnhill at a gathering of women writers years ago. She came over, introduced herself to me, and was both friendly and pleasant. We struck up a conversation. Eventually I became her agent. Ditto Mary DeMuth, who I met at the Mount Hermon conference several years back.

There are a bunch of others with a similar story. I found Siri Mitchell to be very talented as well as a knowledgeable individual. I thought Ginger Garrett was delightful, AND she could sit and talk Braves baseball with me. Sure, all of these people had talent, but they also came across as normal people who I might meet and be friends with (assuming I actually HAD friends…and that I could recognize normalcy.) Of course, the reverse of this is true as well: Don’t be a pest. I was at a conference recently, and I had this one guy more or less stalk me. Every time I turned around, he was there, a dopey smile on his face, pushing his lousy book idea, trying too hard to be my best friend. He gave me the creeps. I don’t care if he sends me something great, I’m not going to publish him because then I’d have to deal with the clown on a regular basis, and life is too short to be surrounded by Mr. Weirdness and the Children of Doom.

How can an author take their work from good to great?

This is my favorite question, because I get to prattle on and sound like an expert, and I’m fairly certain the writers reading this will actually get something out of my answer.

1. Improve your vocabulary. (It’s okay to find your readers occasionally have to get up and go get their dictionary while reading your book. Growth is a good thing.)

2. Find your voice. (This is my favorite writing topic, of course. Most writers seem to be pretending they are still writing an English paper. Kill the teacher in your head. You’re writing your life. You’re writing to a friend. You are NOT writing for a grade. You are NOT writing to show off. You are revealing yourself via verbs and nouns.)

3. Get organized. (Every book requires research and planning. EVERY book.)

4. Know your topic. (If you don’t, you’re wasting your time. And if you send it to me, you’re wasting MY time. I won’t waste it on you again.)

5. Learn to set the mood. (Your emotional tone should shine through your writing.)

6. Develop a sense of rhythm. (Short sentences speed up your pace.)

7. Refine your ability to use imagery. (Your images should be…as clear as a Siamese cat wearing a red coat and dancing the Highland Fling. Or something.)

8. Be clear.

9. Don’t belabor the obvious.

10. Learn to create strong leads and stronger closings. (Grab me. Then send me off to ponder.)

11. Meet great characters and reveal them on the page. (If you don’t know these people, if you don’t know their setting, you’re about to write a crummy book.)

12. Read your dialogue out loud to yourself. (Your ear will catch anything dishonest.)
13. Make sure you have a story to tell. (And remember that every story has conflict.)

14. Write in scenes, and let every scene raise the stakes. (Every story has beats to it. Learn to think in paragraphs.)

15. Show us the journey. (I want to be moved. I want to read your story and be changed.)

16. Write with verbs and nouns. (Stolen from ELEMENTS OF STYLE. Still the best writing advice I know.)

17. Work as hard on every sentence as you do on your lead. (Don’t get lazy.)

18. Shut up and listen to your editor.

19. Write every day. (Nothing will move your career forward faster.)

20. Read widely. (And read something different from your own stuff.)

21. Go back and rewrite. (Don’t assume it was perfect the first time.)

22. Depth is found when multidimensional characters that I can relate to face timeless questions in complex circumstances, then make decisions that are open to interpretation…so they may not be right. (THAT’S what causes me to learn, what helps me to understand myself, what leaves me thinking about your book. And this can’t be faked – so don’t write with an agenda. Nothing is more boring than to read a polemic. We’re tired of both Rush Limbaugh’s outrage and Al Franken’s posturing. They’re going to spend hell together, arguing their points.)

How important are writer’s conferences to the new writer?

To be continued tomorrow ...