Episode 2 - The Basics: How Entrepreneurs and Experts Get a Book Deal

In this episode of the Kind of a Big Book Deal Podcast, host Meghan Stevenson walks entrepreneurs through the key stages and roles in traditional publishing. She breaks down the six main steps to getting a book deal, from writing a book proposal and securing an agent to landing a deal, writing the manuscript, preparing for publication, and, finally, promoting the book once it's out. Meghan emphasizes the importance of having the right team—including a collaborator, a literary agent, and an editor—to ensure success.

She also explains the many people involved in publishing a book, from designers and marketing teams to editors and production staff. If you're serious about writing a how-to book or prescriptive nonfiction, this episode gives you a clear roadmap of what to expect. Plus, Meghan shares insider tips on getting an agent and why DIY publishing might not be the best route for most entrepreneurs. 

Whether you're just starting or already in the process, this episode provides valuable guidance to help you navigate the publishing world with confidence.

Episode Highlights:
(0:00) Intro
(3:20) Why book proposals are crucial and why most author-written ones need work
(5:13) How to get a literary agent and why cold pitches often don’t work
(7:31) How book deals happen and the role of an agent
(8:03) Writing the manuscript—what happens behind the scenes
(9:05) Preparing for publication—marketing, positioning, and internal pitching
(9:40) The final stage: Promoting your book (and why you need to do it for years!)
(10:56) Understanding the different publishing roles and why they matter
(15:08) Why hiring a collaborator can give you an edge in the industry
(16:26) Outro

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Have a great idea for a book but don't know where to start?MeghanStevenson.com/quiz


Traditional publishing expert Meghan Stevenson blasts open the gates of the “Big 5” – Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan – to share what every entrepreneur and expert needs to know about landing a book deal.

In episodes released every other Monday, Meghan shares wisdom and stories from 20+ years in publishing as well as interviews with authors, literary agents, and editors. She also answers questions from listeners like you.

Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur with an empire, or are just starting out – this podcast will help you understand what you need to do in order to turn your dream of being a bestselling author into real life.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I would advise most entrepreneurs and experts to get a collaborator. You also want an agent. I think that's a must. Even if an editor approaches you or a publisher approaches you, you always want an advocate on your side, at minimum a lawyer that knows publishing which aren't very many people I know of like a handful that do that and then you're going to be talking with your editor at the publishing house like a lot and you want to have a great relationship with them. So, collaborator, agent, editor it is the triad of every author who is successful.

Speaker 1: 0:33

Welcome to the kind of a big book deal podcast where entrepreneurs come to learn about traditional publishing. I'm your host, Meghan Stevenson. After working as an editor for two of the biggest traditional publishers, I started my own business helping entrepreneurs become authors. To date, my clients have earned over $5 million from publishers like Penguin, random House, simon Schuster and HarperCollins. In these podcast episodes, I blast open the well-kept gates to traditional publishing. I'll explain what every entrepreneur needs to know about landing a book deal without losing your mind. I'm going to share stories, answer your questions, interview the successful authors I've worked with and probably save platform more than a tech bro. So if you dream of landing on a bestseller list but have no idea how. This is the podcast for you and I am so, so glad you're here.

Speaker 1: 1:25

Every so often I get what's called a query letter and what this is is an unsolicited email pitching me your book, okay, and this is super common in fiction, it is super common in children's, it is super common among all of publishing. But when I get a query letter, I realize two things almost instantly. Number one, this person has not done their homework like at all. And number two, they don't understand publishing at all. So in this episode I'm going to talk about the roles and the stages of publishing, and what I mean by. That sounds very theatrical. Unfortunately it is not, but I'm going to talk about the stages of your book's journey within the traditional model, because I think that's a good level set. I think it provides us a nice glossary for what you're about to learn in the rest of this 10 part crash course in traditional publishing. And I'm also going to talk about the roles that everybody plays, because there are anywhere from 10 to 20 people that are going to work on your book when you get a book deal, and you need to know who those people are because, like the people at the end of the credits that I make my husband sit through every time we go see a movie in the theater. Those people deserve to be noticed and acknowledged. So let's go ahead and notice and acknowledge them. So welcome to episode two of a 10-part crash course in traditional publishing. We're going to get going with this stages.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So, once again, this is specific for entrepreneurs and experts writing how-to books, writing what we call prescriptive nonfiction. If you're writing literally anything else, this is not going to apply to you. Sorry, not sorry. There are so many podcasts for y'all. All right.

Speaker 1: 3:20

So let's go into the stages of a book deal and a book's publication for how-to authors. So the first stage that you need to know about, actually, the first stage and second stage can be interchangeable, which is kind of tricky, but whatever we're going to lead with what I would feel like is sort of the optimal way to go. Obviously, I'm biased because I sell stage one that's what I do, that's what I charge for, which is book proposals. So the first stage of book proposal is what you submit when you are trying to write a how-to book. So if you want to write a diet book or a business book or you know any kind of self-help. You're going to need a book proposal and these are notoriously difficult to write. As an author, I personally have never seen an author written book proposal that I didn't want to rip to shreds, and I literally tell people that to their face at writers conferences and on zoom consult calls like on the regular, because it's true, um, there's a lot that goes into a book proposal and even literary agents struggle to write good ones. So number one get yourself a good book proposal, which could include hiring someone like me.

Speaker 1: 4:32

Second stage is getting a literary agent. Now, I said earlier that those two stages can be interchangeable, and that's because they can. Oftentimes a literary agent, a big part of their job is finding new clients, and so they might, you know, reach out to you and scout you, and we'll talk about what you should do if that happens in a future episode. But, like for now, you could end up with the literary agent being interested and what they're likely going to say is go write a book proposal and maybe, if you know the ones that work with me a lot, they're going to introduce you to someone like me and you're going to have a much easier road with. But those two stages can go interchangeably. So let's talk about getting a literary agent.

Speaker 1: 5:13

So most people get a literary agent through querying, through sending them like kind of cold pitches. It's basically the equivalent of a cold call, but through email inboxes. This can be a terrible way to get an agent, mostly because agents are inundated with these kinds of requests and even to find good ones is challenging. Also, a lot of the best literary agents don't take these unsolicited submissions anymore because they have enough clients, they have enough money from bestselling books, they're chill and they're just taking on like referrals and that sort of thing. It can feel really daunting or it can feel like it kind of sucks or is discouraging, but rest assured, there are plenty of literary agents out there and there are a lot of great agents who are still actively looking for clients.

Speaker 1: 6:00

So how do literary agents work? Well, they are meant to represent an author in basically everything. They negotiate your deal, they negotiate your contract, they handle the money, they handle rights. You know they argue with Netflix over whether you should have 10 episodes in your series or eight. You know they do all those sorts of things. There's all different kinds of literary agencies all the way from. You know single person boutique places to big conglomerate. You know talent agencies like William Morris, endeavor or United Talent, and so they do all sorts of things and, again, what's right for you is going to be up to you.

Speaker 1: 6:40

But just know that, like literary agents are out there and that is something you definitely need if you are going to get a book deal, mostly because, especially in prescriptive nonfiction, editors aren't touching unsolicited submissions. They might go out and find you and say, hey, I really want to offer you a book deal, but in my mind, even when I did that as an editor, I would get someone an agent if I could, because I wanted them to be fairly represented in the contract negotiations, in how much they were paid, all of that Okay. So an agent's job is to basically represent you and be your advocate and be your industry insider. I love working with agents. We have a very reciprocal and symbiotic relationship because we're both here for the author and that's really important. So the third stage is getting you a deal right. The agent is who submits your proposal to editors and to publishers, so it's their job to get you a deal. So hopefully you will reach this third stage and you will get either kind of a big book deal or, you know, a really big book deal, who knows? Let's hope that's. Let's plan on that big book deal, okay, um.

Speaker 1: 7:55

So the fourth stage is to write the manuscripts. And a lot of people forget about this part because they're so hooked on the deal and the agent and all the fancy shit. But the writing, the manuscript, is important and it takes easily a year to do this because you have to write the damn thing, which usually people give us about six to nine months to do. But then you've got to edit it. You've got to revise it. You've got to copy edit it, which is when they fix it for grammar God bless copy editors. You've got to proof it, which is when they check it for errors. You've got to. You know, I had an author who had illustrations in her book. She had to hire an illustrator and get all that specked out. There's so much work there to do. I spent 15 hours this week getting a manuscript that I had collaborated on ready for Simon Schuster 15 hours y'all. I've never put in that many section breaks. I really haven't. Okay, god bless production people, and we're going to get to them in a second.

Speaker 1: 8:50

So when you write your book. That's also when, like this, manuscript creating phase is also when you figure out a cover. It's when you finalize your title and your subtitle. It's when your book starts getting shared internally at your publisher. So the fifth step brings me into the fifth stage, which is getting ready for publication. Right, that's when you're gearing up. That's when you're including, you know, finalizing your marketing, promotional plans. That's when you're confirming positioning with your editor. That's when your editor's presenting in-house to everyone else that works at the publisher what your book is and why it's going to be successful. Right, that's when all this stuff is gearing up. It's it's a very exciting time and it happens about six months before your pub date.

Speaker 1: 9:38

So then all of a sudden, it's pub day, right, and this is sort of the sixth or the last stage, and that's when you promote and you promote, and you promote, and you promote, and you promote, and you promote some goddamn more. You really do. I mean, mean, I think people underestimate how much they're going to have to promote a book. Like they, it should be like incessant. You should talk about it nonstop, right, um, for easily a year, if not two years, like sorry, not sorry. You wanted this book deal right now. You've got to earn it. So that's what happens.

Speaker 1: 10:09

Those are those six stages. So let's recap that because I know there's a lot there. So the first two, which are interchangeable, are write a book proposal, get an agent. So it can happen like that write a book proposal, get an agent, or it could be get an agent, write a book proposal, kind of doesn't matter. Third stage and this is so necessary if you want a traditional publishing deal is to get a book deal right, to have a publisher want to publish your book. Fourth stage is writing the damn thing. Fifth stage is like planning to promote it. And then the sixth stage it's out, it's in the world and you are continuing to promote and sell it so that it will be successful and hopefully you'll have a chance at getting a second book deal and a third book deal and a fourth book deal. Okay, so those are the stages of publishing and now we can move on to the roles.

Speaker 1: 11:02

So I'm going to start with me, or someone like me, um, who is a collaborator. So another term for this could be ghostwriter, it could be editor. We do all of those things. I see that as a spectrum and not as a clearly defined role. I'm kind of making up my own um, my own sort of title here, but collaborators are there to help you, the author, be successful within this world of traditional publishing. So you know, a good collaborator is going to tell you first of all whether you have a chance in hell of getting a deal. A good collaborator is going to help you write a great book proposal. A good collaborator is going to see your vision and make it match what the market wants, whether that market is editors and agents or whether that market is actually the reading public or both. Often, you know, for us it's both. So these are editorial guns for hire, for lack of a better way to go.

Speaker 1: 11:49

Collaborators usually work hand in hand with literary agents. So a literary agent's job is to negotiate for you legally, financially and otherwise. They are your asset. You are hiring them Much like you would hire a real estate agent to represent you in a transaction for a house. That's what a literary agent does, but it's for your book and it's for your book career, so it's for everything related to the book.

Speaker 1: 12:12

I love literary agents and they play a really important role in our industry. Then we have editors. So editors obviously edit, but they do a whole lot more. They are also your project manager for your book and they'll do a lot of presenting on your behalf. So you want to have a really great relationship with your editor. I like to say, when people are trying to get a literary agent or an editor, it's like you want to have a drinks with this person. But you would also trust them with your bank account and, as you might know, that's kind of a narrow thing. It's kind of like hiring a lawyer or a tax accountant. In a way, you got to have that trust there and you got to have a rapport there so you can build the relationship. So editors are fabulous and we love them. You'll hear me say that a lot about people in publishing, just because I like my industry and I love my colleagues, so it's all good. There are some I don't love, but I'm not going to say about that because that's bad karma and yeah, it all comes back to you. But there are people I don't love to work with, but majority of my colleagues are wonderful. Okay, just telling you, so I'm not blowing smoke up. Your you where, alright.

Speaker 1: 13:16

So editor is going to be your primary contact at the publisher period and if sentence they're going to be sort of this the person you talk to when you have any kind of problem. However, there is like 10 to 20 people that are working on any given book at your publisher. So that includes marketing people, that includes PR, publicity people, salespeople who go out to independent bookstores. They work in what's called the field to sell books into independent bookstores. There's designers there's not just cover designers, y'all. There's interior book designers who decide what font you're going to have, what spacing is between the lines, all sorts of things. Very cool job. There's also production people, and so these are copy editors and project managers and proofreaders and people that work at the printing company and all sorts of people that actually produce the book. So you can easily see how this is like 20 people. There's also folks in leadership at a publisher, so people like the editorial director that we described in the previous episode about the big five, but there's also a publisher person, right? So, like you might say you might have your editor say, hey, my publisher said this. And they're not saying like the company came all wizard of ozzy and like decided to proclaim on high something about your book. No, it's their boss saying hey, like can we do this other title, or I'd rather have this or I'd rather have that. So just you know, the publisher is both a company and a person. So that is the roles.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Um, most often what an editor will see, what they'll deal with, is obviously a collaborator. We are often the first line of defense or offense for an author and that's another reason why it's valuable to hire us. I know a lot of people want to DIY. They want to own every little bit of their book, but hiring a collaborator is such a great way to get an industry insider on your side. So, for example, really easy. We help our clients get literary agents right. We know them, we have relationships with them. We don't have to use things like query tracker. It's just not our thing. So you definitely, like I would advise most entrepreneurs and experts to get a collaborator. You also want an agent. I think that's a must. Even if an editor approaches you or a publisher approaches you, you always want an advocate on your side, at minimum a lawyer, lawyer that knows publishing, which aren't very many people I know of like a handful that do that and then you're going to be talking with your editor at the publishing house like a lot and you want to have a great relationship with them. So collaborator, agent, editor it is the triad of every author who is successful.

Speaker 1: 16:15

All right, so this was episode two. We're talking about stages and roles. I'm very excited to keep progressing down this 10 part crash course with you. So until next time, cheers to your success. Thanks for tuning into the kind of big book deal podcast. Want to see where you're at on your book journey? Check out my free quiz at meghanstevenson.com forward slash quiz. That's M-E-G-H-A-N-S-T-E-V-E-N-S-O-N dot com forward slash quiz. See you next time.