Port Yonder Press

First, read and heed everything in this article.  The only EXCEPTION to this article is that we DO NOT currently ask that you use an agent.  Feel free to contact us without agent representation.

Did you know that having a book published is seldom a money-making proposition, unless your network / fan base is large? 
Did you know it often takes years and several successful books to get to that point? 
Are you prepared to put in the time and effort to achieve that?

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Question: How long does it take to hear back after we send you an equery?

Answer:  Here's the process and timeline:

1) You send us a brief equery including a brief summary of your book, a brief marketing plan and your platform (notice the word "brief"; now is not the time to send the whole enchilada).  After reading your material, if we're interested in seeing your full proposal, we'll ask.  The full proposal follows the brief material / equery; please don't send a full proposal without being invited to do so. Either way, we will respond to your initial contact, usually within a week or two if not immediately.

2) Along with the full proposal, we usually ask to see the first two chapters of your manuscript.  We prefer a hard copy, so you will need to send that in a tear-proof envelope, preferably, and placed within a folder for ease of organization and storage.

I usually read the full proposal right away (though maybe not the chapters yet), the same day, and will then send you a preliminary author questionnaire within the next few days (you can find a copy on the site to see what that includes).  When I receive the author questionnaire back via email attachment, I print it out and add it to the full proposal / first two chapters, read it all, then decide if we might be the publishing house for you, and your book one we would like to further explore. 

3) If it isn't, we will kindly ask you to consider our included suggestions and possibly resubmit in a year's time, if the theme seems to fit our needs / wants.  If it's more a matter of the book just not being something we're interested in for one of a hundred reasons, we'll let you know that, too.

If we do want to see more, we'll ask you to send several random chapters (we'll let you know what those are: different for each author), again by hard copy, and read those over at our leisure.  Up to this point, you may have waited a month or more.  If you've gotten this far and yours in NOT a simultaneous submission (we frown on those), NOT over about 80,000 words, and NOT a Bible study posing as a novel, we're getting very interested.

4) If the random chapters still interest us, we'll ask you to send the complete manuscript usually as a Word document (attachment) first, and it will likely go off to an editor immediately (unless it's a poetry chapbook, in which case I handle that myself).  I will ask them to look at the first few pages / chapters and give me their basic impression.  If his/her (or "my" in the case of the chapbook) initial assessment is favorable, we'll send you another piece or two of information about our press, answer any questions or address any concerns you mentioned on the preliminary questionnaire, the likely royalties you'll earn per book, etc., to see if our goals mesh.

5) If we see eye to eye on everything thus far, or are able to come to an amicable agreement on sticky concerns, a contract will be forthcoming. If for some reason the relationship seems unworkable or more trouble than either of us want to put into it, we'll end it there.

If we decide the manuscript doesn't fit what we're looking for, we'll let you know why, and possibly ask you to resubmit the following January.  Give the whole process up to four months or so.  I wish I could tell you I sit at my desk all day waiting for your manuscript, then will spend the next "x" number of hours dedicated to it and it alone, but I can't.  Not only do we have several authors already in the queue at various stages of publication, but we have a whole slew of manuscripts to get through, each one at one of the stages listed above, and each one vying for just as much attention as yours.  So, please understand, we'll be doing all we can to get there, to get to your work.


Action Step:  Use the time while waiting to hear from a publisher or magazine editor to work on other manuscripts.  Maggie's Point?  When the writing stops, the worrying starts. It pays to write, while it costs to worry.  Which makes more sense (cents)?

Second, realize....

Your Professionalism is important

• Excellent work

Send us your best work.  Make sure the manuscript you send is clean copy (error-free or pretty close).  Nothing turns us off more than a manuscript full of typos and poor grammar - marks of an unlearned or unprofessional writer, or at the worst, a lazy one.

Join a writers group, submit your manuscript for revision, and get it up to snuff before querying us.

If you need help finding a reliable freelance editor, you may want to consider this growing list.
 

• Excellent attitude

We all know temperamental writers who are difficult to live and work with.  If you are such an author, please consider looking elsewhere for a publisher.  We frankly don't need the stress.

We look for team members who are malleable, sweet-spirited, and easy to work with.  Pride yourself on being otherwise?  So sorry.  Another publisher is just a click away.

• Excellent team spirit

Our primary goal will be to get this book in print and then into the distribution channels so it can be picked up by bookstores, libraries, etc.  But our budgeting allowance is low, so the bulk of the marketing will be done by you, the author.  We will do some, but minimally so.  We have neither the time nor the money.  Saying that, we will be working with you from beginning to end and need you to likewise work with us. 

If you have this excellent work ethic, attitude and team spirit, please read on about how to market your book.


Our Distributors - Currently we use Ingram as our book distributor, but hope to expand to Baker and Taylor as soon as we have a couple more titles to offer them, probably in 2010 or 2011. 

Rest assured, we will attempt to make your book available in all the usual places as quickly as possible, and your marketing efforts will further expand its reach.  We will also be incorporating the use of the Espresso Book Machine wherever available.  If you're not familiar with the EBM, click here.

And finally...

Your Platform is essential

• Networking

FACEBOOK - If you've not yet availed yourself of Facebook at the very least, we'll be missing a great potential market opportunity for your book.  And as a small publisher, we need you to do as much or more of the pure marketing than we do.  After all, our budget is extremely small, your royalties from us will be higher than most (40% or more compared to the usual 16%), and with both a shrinking economy and a shrinking publishing world, we all realize the necessity for the author to be writer, marketer, promoter and sales-person if we're to make it in today's publishing climate.  If you can add Twitter, Shoutlife, writers groups, etc., all the better.  Facebook is an absolute must.

WEBSITE - If you don't have a dedicated author website and/or blog, now is the time to get it started.  Our authors must have one or both.  Again, it's all about marketing, and a website (preferably a blog with somewhat regular postings) is not an option.  We would also like you to set up purchasing capabilities on your website or blog, or minimally have a link to your Amazon page.

BOOK SIGNINGS - Will be strongly encouraged.  An author who is open to lining up several potential book signings stands a better chance of being published by PYP.

ENDORSERS/INFLUENCERS - You will want to be thinking about well-known people who can endorse or influence your book.  If you know no one, I would recommend you join and get involved with writers groups such as ACFW or FaithWriters.com.  Begin to think about who can "influence" or endorse your book, write reviews, host you on their blog, etc.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS - You have connections we don't:  your family and friends, church groups, civic groups, writers groups, acquaintances at work, neighbors, etc.  Inform them of your upcoming release.  Most will be happy to share in your success by purchasing a copy.  Be sure to autograph it if they desire!

OUR PART - Port Yonder Press has a growing Facebook presence as well as this website and a small but growing fan base.  We will list the book here, on Amazon, and post it on our Facebook page, as well as send out occasional reviews and updates through these channels. In addition, we may work with you to develop new markets, but again, we can't emphasize enough the importance of you, the author, taking ultimate responsibility for marketing your book.  We both benefit when your book sells well, and that involves author-marketing.

We are trying to be honest when we claim that we can't promise you the world.  What we can do is try to make the best of what you've provided us, stand behind you in its promotion, and make our working relationship with you both pleasant and lasting. 

AUTHOR MARKETING - Book-on-Demand technology is just a bit more costly than typesetting.  Your "take" on a digitally produced book-on-demand will be about twice as much if you plan on selling a greater number of books yourself through your website or book signings.  Even at the higher royalties through PYP, without typesetting your take is less, UNLESS you can market/sell a large number of books yourself.

THE NUMBERS - A bookstore or Amazon purchased 100 page book listed at $9.99 will net you, the author, about $1.80 per book.  If you can sell the same book yourself, your profit will be about twice that if you receive 50% royalties from us.