Writing is an art, but once a book is done, it becomes all business. And along with any business come the need for marketing plans and ideas. But that’s not an author’s job, right? An authors job is to write the best book possible and then let the publisher worry about the marketing and publicity.

In a fairly tale, yes.

But publishing these days is more about hard cold facts.

As revolutionary as this may sound to people who have book in the book biz for decades – an author’s ability to bring a marketing synopsis to the table along with a great manuscript is now making a difference in what books get picked up.

And not just in non-fiction, but in fiction as well.

In the last year it has become common practice at publishing houses such as Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Random House for an editor to ask the author’s agent what kind of marketing the author can do and to factor that in to a decision to buy or not to buy a book.

This isn’t to say a great novel written by an author who doesn’t anything about marketing but how to spell it will not get published. Of course it will. But given a choice of three good novels, all things being equal, editors are factoring in things like the author’s ability to market and publicize his or her own book.

Publishers are more aware than ever that no one is a better sales tool for a book than the author as has been proves by Anita Diamnat’s hand selling her about to be remaindered novel to reading groups getting a word of mouth campaign going that resulted in over 5 millions book sales.

The same is true of Neil Gaiman who devoted a serious amount of time marketing his novel American Gods and building up an online relationship with his fans from via an online journal from his site. HarperCollins credits the author, not only for writing a great book, but also for his publicity skills and savvy which resulted in standing room only on his author tour and a book that hit the bestseller lists.

Terrence Cheng, who is the director of internet marketing for Random House. Inc, and the author of Son's of Heaven said in today’s market driven economy it’s impossible for a writer not to think about the market at some point. And it’s important, he says, for the writer to have ideas, which the agent can share with prospective publishers.

“A marketing synopsis, or a log of the author’s marketing ideas, can only help in positioning a book for agents and publishers,” Cheng said.

His advice is not to worry about how good or bad any one idea is but just jot down all notes and keep a log. “Your ideas can often be embellished by the publisher to become part of an effective strategy,” Cheng said.

Included in that log should be list of to writers with whom you think you share similarities in content, style, voice, subject matter, etc. And any professional or personal associations that you might have can be good leads.

“I’d say doing this once the book is done, or almost done, is probably safest, so it doesn’t take time away from the creative process,” Cheng suggests.

And while, as authors, we hope that if we’ve written a really good book, it should stand on its own, authors can often interest agents, and agents can often interest publishers, in a work if it has a real niche market appeal.

Indeed, Cheng’s own novel does appeal to one specific market -- Chinese and Asian Americans because of the subject matter of the novel -- and he feels that did help his agent sell it. “If a book goes on to find a more mass market, through grass-roots word of mouth, good publicity and marketing, and luck, it’s a real blessing, “ Cheng said. But most often that mass appeal begins with a specific niche.

E. Lynn Harris started out, hand-selling his own books to women in beauty salons—and now he’s a bestseller! “He started very grass-roots, knowing what he was writing and who he thought would appreciate his work, and then it grew and grew through working with his agent, his publisher, and really cultivating his own personal relationship with his readers, “ said Cheng.

Yes, he wrote an engaging novel first, then he went out to pitch it to the people. And he pitched it to the right people in the right environment.

One of the best plans to include in a marketing synopsis is how you as an author can work the web. It’s becoming an authors’ best medium because while time intensive- other than building a website – the internet is free. Authors can build networks and meet and interact with existing communities for free.

From the very beginning, developing an environment and community online that would help support his novel, was part of Cheng’s plan. One which he shared with his agent from the start.

“Even before I started writing SONS OF HEAVEN, I felt very strongly that there was a lack of community among published Asian and Asian-American writers. I also felt that the audience for these writers was there but had not been fully tapped.”

This market is both Asian and non-Asian people interested in China, Chinese history and politics, and a generation of readers who are looking to understand what happened in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square Massacre. And so online, Cheng looked for sites where people interested in Asian and Asian American authors could go for information.

“I found some, but not enough to my liking. Nothing felt targeted enough. So I wanted to create a place where readers could find information on Chinese and Asian books, arts, politics, history, as well as post messages and communicate, find current events, and other sites where pertinent information for their interests existed.”

He built his site (www.sonsofheaven.com), out of his own pocket before the book was sold and now the URL is being promoted in the book and all the book materials. Cheng hopes users find it a valuable resource for their interests and updates it every day himself. The goal of all this work is to build a relationship with users and readers.

Ultimately, it is a writer's job to write a wonderful book. Ultimately it will be the publisher's job to promote and market your book. They are, after all, the professionals who know the bookstores, the media, and the market.

“And you should let them do as much as they can,” says Cheng. “You also don’t want your publisher or agent to think that you are going to try and dominate the entire publishing process, because that can create enmity and cause interference that will hurt your book, ” he said.

But short of that, a marketing synopsis is just one more element to separate your novel from the other submissions and help solidify a sale.

This article has been provided by M.J. Rose (www.mjrose.com). To thank her, please buy a copy of her newest novel THE HALO EFFECT.
Writers who read other w riters get published faster.

Rose is also the author of three other novels and is the co-author, with Doug Clegg, of Buzz Your Book. Together they teach an online marketing class - Take the guesswork out of marketing - www.writersweekly.com