From IDEA to SOCIAL MEDIA.

November 14, 2011 12:15 PM

Life Cycle of a Book: Writer. Editorial. Agent. Production. Design. Marketing. Publicity. Sales. Book Buyer. Distribution. Author Publicity. Full Life Cycle [PDF]
posted by Fizz (9 comments total)

In my experience, this model does not work for non-fiction books. In my past, the process has been

1) Writer creates Proposal
2) Sends to Agent
3) who sends to Publisher

If 3 = "yes" from the publisher, then a contract is signed and the...
4)writer researches
5)writer writes
6)Writer submits manuscript to publisher.

Non-fiction writers tend to work by a different process instilled by the publishers. It's the contract that gets the publishing house rolling, not the delivered manuscript. (YMMV, depending upon which publishing house you are working with, or even which editor within the publishing house).
posted by AccidentalHedonist at 12:58 PM on November 14, 2011

They assume a lot about the term "book." ;)
posted by mrgrimm at 1:24 PM on November 14, 2011

They forgot:

. Remainder Bin .

I'm not being a smart-ass (much)! Most titles end up there, or re-pulped by the publisher.
posted by clvrmnky at 1:39 PM on November 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Most titles end up there, or re-pulped by the publisher.

So what happens to ebooks? Recycle bin?
posted by Fizz at 1:45 PM on November 14, 2011

"So what happens to ebooks? Recycle bin?"

@Fizz, if Amazon and the Kindle is involved, then yes.
posted by clvrmnky at 1:48 PM on November 14, 2011

if Amazon and the Kindle is involved, then yes.

True? At what point?

Given the virtually unlimited storage space of virtual books, I would have thought the cost of stocking virtual titles would be so marginal as tp keep virtually all books in virtual print.

Indeed, the grudging Luddite in me saw this as one of the few upsides of the whole thing.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:37 PM on November 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

They forget "eBook cracker" and "Demonoid seeder".
posted by Now I'm Prune Tracy! at 3:00 PM on November 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yeah, this leaves out a large part of the story. Is the book backlist? Midlist? Bestseller? Remainder? Hardcover original? Trade paperback (original or reissue)? Mass market? There are a lot of nuances. Most books are not even expected to make a profit, just contribute to overhead. It's a business often clouded by people's romantic ideas (even publishers' romantic ideas).
posted by rikschell at 3:33 PM on November 14, 2011

Ugh. And what about libraries and book sellers and the people who consume the books?
posted by bibliogrrl at 9:31 PM on November 14, 2011