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The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Does Anyone Know?

by Anne Wayman on February 26th, 2007

As some of you know, I’ve tried to go from self-publishing to trade publisher and haven’t been successful. Now I’ve got a client who is self-publishing and wants to use either the manuscript or the book to market to a trade publisher.

The truth is, although I’ve heard of this happening, I don’t have any direct experience. Does anyone out there have a success story to share with us about that?

Write well and often,

Anne Wayman
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Tags: freelance-writing, pod, print-on-demand, self-publishing

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Sid
Feb 26, 2007 at 10:24 pm

Hi Anne,

I’ve heard of it happening as well, but it’s almost always been after author has sold a number of copies of the book.

I have a client who sold his book to a Spanish publisher (we translated the book into Spanish). However, this was due in large part to his relationship with a major university in Spain.

From what I know, people who can successfully sell self-published books to a trade publisher have demonstrated their ability to sell the book.

I’ve got a lot of articles about self-publishing and book marketing on my web site if you want to send others there. It’s at http://www.writeandpublishyourbook.com

Good luck,

Sid
Anne Wayman
Feb 27, 2007 at 11:25 am

Thanks Sid… any clue how many books? I’ve always said 2000 sold in 12-18 months… but I’m making that up.
Sid
Feb 27, 2007 at 11:44 am

Anne,

I’ve heard the same numbers, but I don’t think there’s a definitive answer. I’ve written two book proposals that landed nice deals for the authors, and both proposals focused on how the author would market the book. I believe that if you can demonstrate an ability to market and sell the book (either with a comprehensive and realistic plan or demonstrated results), then they’ll listen to you.

Sid
Gary Dale Cearley
Mar 3, 2007 at 1:54 am

I have a friend who self published a book and within weeks his book was snapped up by a top publisher. His name is Dr. Sean Gabb and his book was known as “The Column of Phocas”. They made him take the book off the market and “re-brand” it as such. For instance, the design had to be redone, a new editing job had to be done and they even made him change the name of his book. It hasn’t yet been re-released but I am looking forward to having both copies.

I am not sure how Sean marketed his book 100% but I do know that the book was on Amazon.co.uk and that he sold copies on his own website. He also kept people updated via e-mail reports. He kept a consistent, respectible ranking on the Amazon site as I would check periodically. It wasn’t extremely high, but it was never low.

For Sean’s sake I hope it sells well, because when he informed everyone about the good news (being picked up by a major publishing house) he was 75% finished with writing the sequel, the second of three books to be written. This could lead to a chain of successes if his re-release is received well by the market.

So to answer the question, yes, I do know of people who have self published first then successfully marketed their book to traditional publishers.

Best regards,

Gary Dale
Anne Wayman
Mar 4, 2007 at 6:49 pm

Thanks, this is helpful.