Ask an author

“I sold The Power of Habit on the basis of a forty-page proposal, not a finished manuscript, because publishers care more about whether you can explain why strangers will care than about your word count. My real advice: write the book proposal first, even if you think you need to write the whole book, since the proposal forces you to answer the question agents and editors will actually ask.”

“I wrote a detailed prospectus and two sample chapters before I ever approached a publisher, and I rewrote them until every trace of academeze was gone. Then I got an agent, which my own research showed makes publishers like you more and pay you more, because someone else does the boasting.”

“I wrote my first book, Free Agent Nation, after a 1998 Fast Company article caught a publisher’s eye, so my path to publication was not the usual one. If I were starting now, I would write a proposal, find an agent who believes in the idea, and let them sell it, because publishers buy from agents far more often than from slush piles.”

“I wrote APE because I watched too many authors get strangled by the fantasy that a traditional publisher would make them famous. The real path is to write the best book you can, then handle publishing and promotion yourself.”

“I started writing my first book in 2004, and I’d tell most people: don’t start with a book. If you haven’t written articles, a blog, or anything else, the book isn’t the beginning, it’s the peak. Start by building a platform of people who already like your work, because publishers won’t market it for you.”

“I became an author by accident, really. I was a newspaper reporter who kept chasing questions I couldn't stop thinking about, and eventually I had enough material and enough obsession that a book became the only honest container for it. My advice is to start with the question that keeps you up at night, not with the ambition to be an author.”

“I self-published APE with Shawn Welch for roughly $4,000: content editing, copyediting, layout, cover design, and ISBNs. Print-on-demand copies run about $3 to $4 per book, but the real cost is your time and marketing, not the printing.”

“I went the traditional publishing route with Limitless, so my costs were time and research, not dollars upfront. If you're self-publishing, budget for a strong editor, cover designer, and marketing, because a cheap book looks cheap and readers notice.”

“I have never paid to publish a book, and I think the question often hides a deeper worry: will this cost me money, or can it make me money? With a traditional publisher like Random House, the house pays you an advance and covers editing, printing, and distribution; you earn royalties only after you earn out.”

“For me, a book is about 70,000 words. I write 500 words a day, six days a week, so that's roughly half a year of actual drafting. The rest, research, revision, and listening to my wife read every chapter aloud, easily doubles it.”

“For me, a book takes about three years from the first real reporting to the final manuscript, though the actual writing is usually the last nine months or so. The rest is reading studies, interviewing people, and figuring out what the book is actually about, which always changes.”

“I’ve done one in 18 days at my mom’s sewing table and I’ve had another grind for three years. For me it takes the time I allow, so I make it a 90-day sprint and start by writing the first page today.”