Christian publishers receive thousands of requests for book deals every month, and it’s impossible for publishers to read everything that comes through the door. Becoming a recognized published author is one of the most difficult tasks anyone can undertake, and unless you are famous, it will be hard to get noticed.
There are literally thousands of questions you could receive from publishers who are interested in publishing your work. You will have to be prepared for the questions they ask you! Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get noticed the first time you present your book. Most people are rejected! This is a tough business!
Here are five questions you better be prepared to answer when you’re publishing a book:
Why would someone want to read your book?
Christian publishers want to know why someone would want to read their book. They want to see into your mind and see where your head is! Publishers are not responsible for doing all the marketing. You are responsible for the marketing of your work! They want to see how much you know about your topic. If you’ve written a fiction novel, then who you know is going to be very important.
What is your book about?
Did you write a fiction novel, how-to book, information book, religious book, or something else? There are certain themes that will appeal to a lot of people. If you are writing about how to manage your finances from a Christian point of view, many people will be interested in this topic because everyone works with money. If you write about how to have an effective prayer life, this will appeal to most people in Christian bookstores.
Fiction novels would be much more difficult to promote. The reason why the Left Behind series was so popular is because it is a fictional novel based on true events that are expected to happen in the future. Most fictional novelists start out building a following through social media and blogs before they can make it big in Christian bookstores.
How would you promote and market your book?
This is the most important question for Christian publishers. If you miss this answer, you can forget about getting published! Selling books is not about being the best writer. It’s much more about knowing the most people. You get to know most people through marketing. You could have the best book on the planet, but if you don’t have any marketing skills at all, you’ll have a hard time getting people to buy your work.
What professional writing experience do you have?
Professional writing experience is an important thing for publishers. Most people who write for a living already have experience when they publish a book.
What makes your job better than everyone else’s?
This is related to some of the other questions, but you need to be able to communicate why you think someone would read your work instead of someone else. What makes your writing unique? How would you describe your writing style? Christian publishers want to know what draws people to you!
These are just five of the top questions Christian publishers will ask you before printing your book. Most people get rejected many times before someone reads their book. For this reason, there are many desktop publishing companies that will print your own book today. This is how many award-winning authors got started. Self-publishing companies are a great way to start your career as a book writer!
