Monday, December 17, 2007

The Book Market

It's amazing how hard it can be for an unpublished book writer to break into the market, especially considering what's out there. Literary rejections on display is right on the money with its commentary about the current publishing climate. So many agents and editors turn down works that they like and think are useful, but that would not be commercially popular enough.

Oddly, I think that the non-fiction work I've been querying is very marketable. The subject matter is popular on the shelves, and at least one large publisher is actively looking for titles on the subject. Not only that, but I actually found an angle that has never been covered by any of the current books on the subject. I found an agent that recently sold a book to the very publisher I've been eying, and he did ask for a book proposal. But, since he never got back with me, I'm assuming he's passing.

It strikes me as strange that it can be so hard to break into the market when there are titles like this book that are selling. Oh yeah- I went there. That's what publishers are buying right now, apparently. And, it's doing very well. Who knew?

2 comments:

Writer, Rejected said...

OMG...How to S*** in the Woods? is probably the book that got published over mine. It's so depressing. Thanks for the shout out, dude. Keep the faith in your own work. It's all we have sometimes, and it's good, even if publishing is a sinking ship.

Anonymous said...

So near and yet so far is my current mantra. I've had two non-fiction proposals accepted by editors only to be turned down at a later date by the marketing departments who deigned them 'not commercially viable'. Stuff what the editors say / like / feel, money talks. It's so disheartening. But like you I'm just carrying on. I now have an agent interested in one of the 'rejected' projects. So once again hope springs eternal.