Not every author has an agent or an intellectual property rights attorney who can advocate for their rights and protect their work. So what do you need to know? You might be surprised if you “lawyer up,” your contract offer may be withdrawn. Why? Most publishers offer contracts which use boilerplate language and they do not negotiate every term and condition for each contract they offer to authors. There are a limited number of items in a contract that a publisher will—or should be willing to—negotiate. Attorneys unfamiliar with the publishing industry or intellectual property rights might make suggestions which result in no book deal. Advances and copyright royalty percentages have shrunk so much in financial terms in the last decade that if you hire a high-priced attorney it will cost you more in legal fees than what you will earn from sales of your book. The publisher will quickly realize you don’t have a realistic grasp of the contract offer and no publisher wants to work with a litigious author. We recommend you join the Authors Guild because their experienced legal team offers reviews of publishing (including e-publishing) contracts at no cost to members. They will also provide suggestions for negotiating strategies and, when necessary, intervene in publishing disputes. Their advocacy work supports authors’ rights and their ability to earn a living in this changing publishing landscape. This year they have advanced a Fair Contract Initiative. Any writer who has been published by an established US book publisher or…

Every writer hopes to captivate an audience. But who are you writing to? When you write a letter, you address your reader directly. When you write a speech, you anticipate a particular group of listeners. If you write a news article, you have a strong sense of who the readers will be, and your writing reflects your grasp of how best to address their subscribers. Even on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you are conscious of who sees what you write. We adjust what words we use and how we use them depending on our intended audience. When you write a book to be published, it is critical to identify your readers early on. Knowing who you are addressing will help you as a writer. I often work with authors who have finished a first full draft of a manuscript which requires translation from a story that satisfies one reader (the writer) to one that serves many readers. But if the author doesn’t know who the readers for their work might be, then are they writing to be read, or still working through the story in their own head? Back in the day when teaching radio journalism involved reel-to-reel tapes and a grease pencil to edit, I advised reporters to visualize the listener as someone specific. We’ve all heard the sing-song-y recitations of local radio news reporters. Students worked hard going out into the field, taping interviews and natural sounds, and writing their news scripts. But when they delivered a story…

Who are your readers? They are not your family and friends. And don’t expect them to buy the book when it comes out. Unless they are in it. And that might not always be a good thing. Who are the people who don’t know you and will be pulled to your book enough to take money out of their pocket to buy it so they can read it? Do you know who those people are? They are book-buying customers. If not, it’s time to get to know them. The whole point of getting published is to be read. It IS about the readers. What will they think of it? How will they respond? As an author you can’t pretend you aren’t writing to a reader. Imagine who that is. Who are you talking to as the narrator of your book? What do you want them to think, feel, and do as a result of reading your book? When I coach radio journalists, I encourage them to identify their listeners. To whom exactly are they telling the story? If they can’t picture the specific person they are speaking to in a conversational manner, then they sound like the sing-songy news readers we all hate and tune out. Your writing will be stronger when you write to a specific audience. Let’s face it. Most of us don’t have time to read many books anymore. Buying a book is a luxury, not a necessity in most cases. If readers buy a book, they…