I've written a raw manuscript; what are the next steps?
More than 10 years ago, I wrote two books for Manning Publications, a publisher of technical non-fiction books. I didn't need to search for a publisher, I was offered a book contract, first by O'Reilly, then by Manning. I chose Manning Publications.
Now I've written a completely different book. If I had to write the text for the back cover, it would read like this:
Founders of tech startups don't read business books. I can tell
because I help startups by making them "investor-ready" and I notice
that technical founders know all there is to know about writing code,
the Cloud, and apps. Unfortunately, they often have no clue what the
due diligence process is about; they don't know the difference between
a call option and a put option; and they can't justify why their
company is worth millions of dollars.
Truth to be told, I didn't know any of those things either when I
wrote the first lines of code that would result in iText, a free and
open source PDF library. I would have called you crazy if you told me
that this hobby project would eventually make me a multimillionaire.
"Steve Jobs, A Biography" was one of the few business books I read,
and although I liked the book, "being like Steve Jobs" was neither
realistic nor desirable.
In "The Accidental Entrepreneur", I take the reader with me on my
personal journey. I share the ups and downs of being a developer
forced into business to save his free and open source project. Along
the way, we learn what being an entrepreneur is about. After reading
this book, you'll also know the vocabulary you'll need when looking
for an investor. Whatever I did, you can do too.
The raw draft has about 87.5K words; I have put a full TOC on LinkedIn.
Audience
The original target audience consisted of aspiring tech entrepreneurs. I originally wrote the book in Dutch (my mother tongue) and printed a limited hardcover edition of 200 copies to test the market. I noticed that it was also popular with established entrepreneurs who recognize their own struggle in my story.
Furthermore, the book was much appreciated by M&A consultants, Business Angels and VCs. They recommended the book to founders looking for an investment. The book helps them explain the choices that need to be made, and the consequences of those choices.
Finally, I’d say that this book is for everyone who is eager to learn more about doing business, but hates being taught. If I look at myself: I hate business books that tell me what to do. I don’t believe in authors of business books claiming having found the recipe to become a millionaire.
I prefer being inspired by an entrepreneur who walked the talk, and who isn’t ashamed of being open about the miserable failures that preceded the eventual success.
Important: The English version isn't a translation. I removed some fragments that were typical for Belgium, but that probably wouldn't be understood in an international context. I added content that is more US-oriented.
Market
I didn't do much marketing for the Dutch version; I gave away 30 copies and sold 150 copies. I packaged all the books manually, and I brought each package to the postal office on my bicycle. In other words: it was a small operation.
Getting feedback was my main goal:
Comments on Goodreads
Comments on Social Media (most of them are in Dutch)
In pre-Covid19 times, I was a speaker at events and conferences all over the world:
JavaOne / OracleCodeOne, San Francisco, CA: speaker in 2014, 2015, 2016
PDF Days: 2014: Washington DC / New York, 2015: Cologne; 2016: Berlin; 2017: Berlin.
Great Indian Developer Summit (GIDS), Bengaluru, India: keynote 2016, 2017, 2018
SXSW, Austin, TX: participant forum 2016; speaker 2018
I’m also a guest lecturer at different academic institutions in Belgium:
University College Leuven Limburg: yearly guest lecture about cultural differences in business.
Solvay Brussels School, Business & Economics, Brussels: guest lecture about valuing a company for the Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Antwerp Management School: Masterclass Investor Readiness
For a more comprehensive list of speaking engagements, see lowagie.com/speaker I am quite active on social media:
I have more than 6,500 followers on Twitter
I have about 1,700 connections on LinkedIn
I have a reputation of almost 70K on Stack Overflow (that’s well within the top 1%)
I've also won some awards:
Business Awards:
BelCham Entrepreneurship Awards: winner “Most Promising Company of the Year 2014”
Deloitte’s Technology Fast50: winner Belgian edition 2014
JavaOne Rockstar Award: winner 2015
American Business Awards: Bronze Stevie for Innovative Company 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
International Business Awards: Silver Stevie for Innovative Company 2016, 2017, 2018
European Business Awards:
2015/16: National Public Champion "RSM Entrepreneur of the Year"
2016/17: National Champion "Business of the Year with turnover of 0 - 25M euro"
2017/18: National Champion "ELITE Award for Growth Strategy of the Year"
Literary Awards:
Literary Award of the City of Harelbeke, Belgium: winner in 1994
Literary Award of the City of Gorinchem, The Netherlands: winner in 2019
For a full overview of the awards, see lowagie.com/awards There are thousands of developers using iText, and most of them know me as the creator of this popular library and as the founder of the iText companies. That makes it easy for me to be accepted as a speaker at events or as a guest lecturer in business schools. In the past, I had to limit my speaking engagements because of lack of time, now that I am no longer affiliated with iText Group, writing, and promoting my books can be a full-time job.
Flaws
There are some of the flaws in the current version of the manuscript that need fixing:
The first part is about my youth. While readers in Belgium liked these chapters because I talk about Belgian companies, this may not be interesting enough for international readers. I need a developmental editor who can help me select what is important, and what isn't.
Some parts might be too technical for non-technical readers. The target audience consists of technical founders, but I want to make the technical parts as simple as possible.
I am not as proficient in English as a writer born in the UK or the US. There are probably quite some grammatical and spelling errors in my manuscript.
I do not want to self-publish this book. I want to work with a publisher.
When I worked with Manning Publications, I was assigned a developmental editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader. I'm looking for a publisher that can offer the same level of support. I'm not looking to hire a copy editor; I'm looking for the full package. That is, among others: a developmental editor for flaws 1 and 2; a copy editor for flaw 3.
What should be my next steps? What would you recommend me to do with the manuscript?
I was told that I should look for a literary agent? Which agent would be best for this type of book?
Which conditions should I expect when I find a literary agent?
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You have a solid platform, an existing audience, and you've already given out first copies of the book and had people read it and review it positively. You also have a track record of public speaking and interacting with writers, and some awards. All of these factors put you in a great spot for potentially approaching literary agents and liasons about publishing your book, and likely place you ahead of much of your competition.
Given all of this, I think you have a really solid chance of getting published if you can acquire the right literary agent and publishing partner to work with you, so here is an explanation of your potential next steps.
How to contact an agent
Straight away, I will tell you to be warned: the vast majority of literary agents get hundreds of submissions each week, many of them out of the blue, from new authors with no platform, and for this reason and others they do not like to get unsolicited submissions, ever. If you attempt to submit your full manuscript without approaching them properly, you will likely get some very stern responses or will be ignored.
Therefore, you do not want to immediately submit a manuscript or even a partial manuscript unsolicited to anybody, nor do you want to cold call agents in search of somebody who can connect you with a publishing partner.
Instead, prepare a brief statement about who you are and what your book is about, and then reach out with polite, very brief communications to agents who you believe fit you best and have made it clear they would be open to those types of submissions. Try to get recommended by other authors or people who can vouch for you as a quality writer. Keep these communications brief and do not badger or come across as needy, as that is a huge turn-off to agents.
Here is an outline of what you can say:
Introduce yourself and provide your credentials and awards right away. Establish that you have a platform. "I am a public speaker for... etc. etc."
Provide a very brief summary of your book, eight sentences or less. Give the genre, the title or working title, and the main plot points and characters. Designate who your audience is - in your case, professionals in your field who would find your book helpful to them as a guide.
Respectfully ask if they would be interested in reading the manuscript and provide a few ways to contact you.
If this communication gets no response or a brief rejection notice, they are not interested. This could be because your work is not a good fit for the publisher, or they are just not looking for your specific genre right now, or any other number of reasons, many of them beyond your control. Don't take rejection at this stage personally, and keep trying!
When you find an agent and get into the publishing process
Another big warning here: there comes a point where you lose control of your book after you sign it off to a publisher. They will stop wanting your input and will not invite you to decisions about it. They will likely choose the cover art, design the book jacket, and garner press entirely without you. They may even change the title!
You can do one of two things about this. You can make an effort to be active in this process, or you can just step back and let them handle it. I highly recommend the latter, as publishers make money for a reason and they generally know what they're doing. You may come across poorly if you try too hard to control the choices they make about marketing or selling your book, so be careful about any feedback you try to give them.
However, it is good to try and be at least semi-active in the decision-making process, especially if you can come across as knowing your genre well. Prepare as much as you can for any meetings you are invited to, and be ready for both scenarios - they may want your input, or they may not want your input. It is highly dependent on the publisher and the type of deal you signed. In my experience, smaller publishers will tend to let you be more active in the process, while larger publishers couldn't give a crap about you. This is all part of the publishing process. It's normal.
What to do if you get published
If your book lands on shelves, great! But you're not done! You still have to go out there and self-promote, do book tours, sign copies, and get engaged with your audience. Be active with your first readers and try to build a community. Make a forum about your book, provide contact information for readers to get in touch with you and ask you questions, etc. All of this helps a ton in building hype around your book and increasing your visibility as an author and your sales. If you have a positive community around your work and good word of mouth, the rest will come naturally.
Be prepared, however: you will likely not make much money on your first book. You will likely be approached for a sequel if it does modestly well, and that is where you will start making the big bucks. But you'll have to do a bit of belt-tightening until then if you plan on making writing your full-time job, so just be prepared for it! Don't necessarily count on the book being successful, but you should be very proud of yourself when it is.
I hope this advice was helpful!
Depends.
Did you write this for funsies or to make money.
Did you plan to self publish (not VANITY publish) or try to get it trad pubbed.
Did you plan to try to get an agent first or contact real publishers directly.
Your first step seems to be to learn about book publishing and selling and how the industry works.
If you plan to write a proposal for a publisher then you need to find a book on doing that and follow their guidelines. Ditto if you want an agent first.
There are similarities but there are differences.
You should probably read a good book (and they are RARE) about self publishing before you decide your next step. Dan Poynter RIP had the classic book that worked. These days most of them are very poor and those that were not bad are now out of date by a lot.
If you are serious then get the mss reviewed and edited while you are doing your research for other options.
One possibility, not a great one, but could work for you, is to hire a book shepherd to guide you through the process.
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