Hello fellow writers,
After a gruelling slog spanning six months, I have just completed my first non-fictional book.
Naively, I imagined I could simple email my soon-to-be best seller en masse to several publishers and let them fight it out amongst themselves on the rights.
Sadly, having read the brutal guidance on several publishers’ websites such as “Please don’t send us your work”, “We don’t love you” and “Go away!” I decided to seek help from you, the experts.
So here I am. I’m completely at your mercy. Please be gentle with me.
Non Fiction? What other books in your subject are there that are similar? Check out their publishers and read all the small print at the front of each of those books. Look up the sections on agents within that subject as well, and as Victoria said: read the submission guides thoroughly..
Are there any magazines within your subject area - They can also give advice about where to send submissions and maybe you could make it into an series of articles???
I wrote many books, papers and manuals for the spiritual market when I was a therapist/teacher and tried with so many publishing houses like Hay House. . . I'm still trying and am very confident I'll get through.
Perseverance my friend. Deep breathing and perseverance!!
Good luck with it.
Haha! I did this. Its not as daunting as you think. Just look up agents/publishers who deal with your genre and read their 'submission guidelines' on their websites. Different companies like different things. I.E query letters/sample chapters/synopsis' etc. They will also tell you if they accept e-mail or mail submissions and how long it might take to get an answer...if they answer at all, as some state they will only get in touch if they wish to go further with your MS.
Anyway, that is just what I discovered along the way. its not gospel :)