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Can selling an ebook get you a publishing deal?

by buildyourconfidence
9 replies
Traditionally it can be quite hard to get a publishing deal if you are an unknown so do you think that if you are selling your book on kindle it will improve your chances in getting a publishing deal because you can prove a track record.

Has anyone gotten a publishing deal after self publishing..

Thoughts please.

Thanks
Tony.
#deal #ebook #publishing #selling
  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    Anything is possible, however, selling an ebook (I'm assuming you mean 1) and expecting to be chased down by publishers I would say is a real stretch, but, once again, history shows us that anything is possible.

    Ebooks are a dime a dozen, and those who publish ebooks use them as the front end to other things. So as a front-end tool to lead to other things an ebook is effective.

    I've published hundreds of ebooks across many key and desirable subject matter areas from leadership, through self-help to consulting, but never with the goal of landing a book publishing deal. Instead, they've served as credibility building tools.

    That credibility could help you get in front of people who might never have got to know about you, which theoretically could lead to greater things.
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    • Profile picture of the author CathyAnn
      I belong to Geoff Shaw's Kindling group (http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ning-ever.html) and one of the members there was recently offered a publishing contract... which she turned down.

      Don't think you can do this by publishing one book. You have to make a serious business out of it doing BIC (Butt in Chair) on a daily basis.
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  • Profile picture of the author joesfortune
    If your book is a piece of junk, you will end up in a junk yard. I will soon fine out the moment my ebook is done and offer it to Clickbank and Amazon.
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    http://withinyouisyoursuccess.com/

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  • Profile picture of the author godinu
    There are people who have gotten book deals after ebook publishing, but this is after building a huge following and selling loads of books on their own. Publishers these days like proof that a book is going to sell before diving in.

    PS: many of these same authors were rejected time and time again first by traditional publishers, then decided to self-publish. Subscribe to the kindle publishing newsletter and they often have promising stories in them. It's an enjoyable read.
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    if you can write and you are willing to build a following and write many books.. you can land a traditional publishing deal.. the same way if you can sing or play music you can do covers and originals and use utube and my space to make people aware of your music .while getting people to buy your stuff from itunes ..
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    • Profile picture of the author buildyourconfidence
      I sent an email to HayHouse publishing and they replied and said that they do consider ebooks that have been self published, but only through an agent (but I knew that), however a standard royalty fee is about 15% give or take... hmmmm 15% or 100% self publishing.... not that much of a difficult choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    it really depends on your reason for writing ..if your book in e book form or hard copy form are your main source of income ..then your share of the sale of them matters ..if though as many books in the self help field ..are to position yourself as an expert . or increase your chance of getting speaking deals..clients for consults or people into workshops ..then using the hey house network ..and "only " getting 15% when they have built the list and have access to the people who read your book ..

    making money writing non fiction and self help books ...is really only a thing you can do if you have a good number of ways to get people to pay attention to you .
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    • Profile picture of the author George Hutton
      Here's how to find a publisher by first publising an ebook, or Kindle.

      First, write the book.

      Then, sell it on Kindle for 99 cents. Bust you arse promoting it.

      Then, after you've sold 10,000 copies (give yourself a year or two) start pitching it to agents.

      But only AFTER you increase the price to $9.99.

      So, send out a query letter to agents, saying something like this:

      Dear Agent, I've got this book I published on kindle, and it's already sold 10,000 copies. I'm looking for a publisher. Can you help?

      You'll need to send out a few hundred of these letters before you get somebody to bite.

      But once you get an agent (you definitely need an agent) then they'll do the rest of the work.

      Publishers don't want to publish anybody, especially these days when Kindle is killing everybody, unless they are CERTAIN that they will make a profit.

      It takes a ton of cash to market and publish a hard copy book en masse.

      The bigger your PRE-EXISTING audience is, the more chance you'll have getting a publisher.

      But you'll need to put in a LOT of grunt work up front. It ain't gonna happen otherwise.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shelton
    A guy presenting a webinar I was on recently said that the threshold for ebook sales was 100k - before that, you have to chase publishers, but after that amount, there will be lots of people chasing you.
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