# Questions from New Member



## Solaris2020 (Oct 20, 2015)

Hello friends,
I’m a new member, and as such, I can't start a new thread.
I am hoping to publish my first book soon and I need some advice from our more experienced brothers and sisters.
I have many questions in regards to publishing, and would also gladly hear any extra advice you may have.

1-      Who are the biggest publishers that deal with books of a political nature?
2-      Do these publishers have offices in Australia/Sydney
3-      I am hoping this book will be very successful. Do you advise that I get an agent? Why? And how much will it cost me?
4-      What can I expect in terms of advance if the book is extremely high quality?
5-      I wish to publish anonymously, under a ‘nom de plume’ (False name). What do I need to know about this?
6-      Is it possible to control the price of the book? If the publisher wants to sell for $10 and pay me $1, could I ask him to sell for $15 and pay me $6?
7-      When does one expect to see an income from the book?

I will have more questions, and perhaps follow up questions based on your answers.
Thank you for your time.
Solaris


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## Terry D (Oct 20, 2015)

Solaris2020 said:


> Hello friends,
> I’m a new member, and as such, I can't start a new thread.
> I am hoping to publish my first book soon and I need some advice from our more experienced brothers and sisters.
> I have many questions in regards to publishing, and would also gladly hear any extra advice you may have.



Welcome to WF, Solaris2020. I'm no expert, but I'll tell you how I would go about finding the answers to your questions.



> 1-      Who are the biggest publishers that deal with books of a political nature?
> 2-      Do these publishers have offices in Australia/Sydney



All publishers have a web presence these days, so doing a search for "publishers, politics" will give you a bunch of results to start sorting through. Those websites will also tell you if they have satellite offices in your area.



> 3-      I am hoping this book will be very successful. Do you advise that I get an agent? Why? And how much will it cost me?



I would recommend trying to find an agent who represents work similar to yours. A good agent will be able to help you place your work with the appropriate publisher. Getting an agent should cost you nothing (Avoid like the plague an agent who requires a reading fee, no reputable one will). Agents are paid a percentage of what your book earns, usually about 15% I believe.



> 4-      What can I expect in terms of advance if the book is extremely high quality?



Less than you might think. This is another question that can be answered with a bit of on-line searching, but I can tell you advances vary substantially from publisher to publisher.



> 5-      I wish to publish anonymously, under a ‘nom de plume’ (False name). What do I need to know about this?



Deal with your agent and publisher under your own name. The pseudonym can be attached later.



> 6-      Is it possible to control the price of the book? If the publisher wants to sell for $10 and pay me $1, could I ask him to sell for $15 and pay me $6?



No. Book pricing is a business decision made by the publisher not under the author's control.



> 7-      When does one expect to see an income from the book?



The contract you sign will have a percentage of the sales price stipulated as your share. You would receive an "Advance against sales" of an agreed upon amount at the time you sign the initial contract. Your share of the sales would then need to exceed the amount of the advance before you start to receive royalty checks.


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## Solaris2020 (Oct 22, 2015)

Thank you kindly for your response.
I believe I will begin my quest by searching for an agent, hopefully in Sydney.

What should I search for in google? And what is the exact title of the agent?
 Google search:  ‘literary agent Sydney’?


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## popsprocket (Oct 22, 2015)

Solaris2020 said:


> Thank you kindly for your response.
> I believe I will begin my quest by searching for an agent, hopefully in Sydney.
> 
> What should I search for in google? And what is the exact title of the agent?
> Google search:  ‘literary agent Sydney’?



Is that Sydney, Australia?

Because if so the whole literary agent situation is a little different for those of us in Aus. We only have a handful of literary agencies, and although you might have luck getting one to sign you, their general dearth means that it's a little more acceptable to contact publishing houses directly - a few of them keep a running call for unsolicited submissions going so long as you send in your MS on certain days of the week/month. By all means, have a go at finding an agent. If you're successful in the publishing industry you'll undoubtedly want the help of an agent sooner or later, but for unpublished authors our native agencies tend to be highly picky.

This is probably the single most comprehensive list of Australian Literary Agents you'll find, but yes, google searching for "literary agent sydney" will turn up appropriate results.

http://austlitagentsassoc.com/members/


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## Solaris2020 (Oct 22, 2015)

Thank you for that informative answer.

I must ask, would it cause me any problems or inconveniences if I were to contact an agent in New York instead of my native Sydney?

Thanks


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## popsprocket (Oct 22, 2015)

There should be no problems or inconveniences per se, though it seems likely you'd have more trouble engaging an overseas agent as an author with no bankable history. Remember that unproved authors are a risk for an agent to take on and adding an international barrier to all that just makes it that much harder to get things working cohesively. You should try your luck, of course, because you could be one of the rare few who goes that way, just don't have your hopes up high. 

Also, it's probably best to be honest that you're writing from Australia rather than to be cagey about your whereabouts until someone shows interest. There are few worse things you could do than piss off a literary agent.

Check out these links to publishing houses that have open calls for manuscripts:

http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/manuscript-monday
https://www.allenandunwin.com/about-allen-and-unwin/submission-guidelines
https://www.penguin.com.au/getting-published

Macmillan are basically the biggest publishing presence in Australia and have an insane amount of imprints that they publish work through. If you could get Macmillan to buy your MS you would be in a brilliant spot.


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## Solaris2020 (Oct 25, 2015)

Thank you, this has been very informative. 

If anyone has anything else to offer, please do so.

Best wishes to all


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## escorial (Oct 25, 2015)

View attachment 10143


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## Solaris2020 (Nov 7, 2015)

Dear Friends


Sorry if this question seems silly, 


but does one ask one's agent to sign a confidentiality agreement before forwarding one's manuscript?


Does the risk exist of the agent or publisher stealing the writer's work or ideas?


Thanks and best wishes


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## movieman (Nov 7, 2015)

Solaris2020 said:


> but does one ask one's agent to sign a confidentiality agreement before forwarding one's manuscript?




No.




> Does the risk exist of the agent or publisher stealing the writer's work



No.



> or ideas?



Ideas can't be copyrighted, and a great story idea plus $10 will buy you a cup of coffee.


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## Solaris2020 (Nov 7, 2015)

Thank you very much


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## LeeC (Nov 7, 2015)

Solaris2020 said:


> Thank you, this has been very informative.
> 
> If anyone has anything else to offer, please do so.
> 
> Best wishes to all


From the tone of your questions, it seems this whole book publishing thing is foreign to you which might indicate a newness to writing. 

What the publishing industry is interested in is a viable commodity to derive income from, not what an individual author may believe is a masterpiece. They get many more queries than they can examine at length, and have an axe at hand if they even get to a proffered manuscript. Authors with a little experience under their belt know it's not what one writes, but how one writes, that can make a difference. A main thrust of WF is helping each other develop better writing skills.


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## Aquilo (Nov 8, 2015)

It won't harm you to look for agents or publishers, but before you contact them, I recommend getting your work beta read and your query letter looked at on a writer's site too.


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## Solaris2020 (Nov 8, 2015)

LeeC said:


> From the tone of your questions, it seems this whole book publishing thing is foreign to you which might indicate a newness to writing.
> 
> What the publishing industry is interested in is a viable commodity to derive income from, not what an individual author may believe is a masterpiece. They get many more queries than they can examine at length, and have an axe at hand if they even get to a proffered manuscript. Authors with a little experience under their belt know it's not what one writes, but how one writes, that can make a difference. A main thrust of WF is helping each other develop better writing skills.



Don't worry too much about me, friend.


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