Frequently Asked Questions
Who we are? What makes us different?
Barking Lily books isn't really about a barking dog named Lily (although Lily thinks it should be), but it is about a new way to approach book publishing.
There are thousands of books published annually. The majority of books published through traditional trade publication rarely see a marketing dollar. Unless you have proven star power, and thus instant recognition in the eye of the reading public, often your book is sent out into the world to fend for itself, to hopefully catch the eye of a kind reviewer. If your book is lucky enough to get a good review and it finds its way onto the bookshelves of a national book chain store, you will still be lucky to sell more than the average of 250 copies.
Like anything else in today's highly competitive consumer market, books and book sales is all about marketing. Writing a book is only part of the equation; getting it to sell - marketing the book for sales - that's the real challenge.
And this is our approach. We don't want to just publish you, we want to market you. let me put it another way: You don't just want to write a book, you want to write a book that finds an audience. That's what it is all about, getting our books into the hands of the reader.
Marketing is the key.
I'll say this again - marketing is the key.
If your book doesn't get in the hands of those who can influence sales, if it doesn't make its way to the wholesalers and distributors who supply the bookstores and libraries, if it doesn't generate enough advance buzz to create anticipation, if no one knows about it, no one is going to buy it. That's what we do, that's what makes us different. We're prepared to market your product, to get your book to the right people at the right time for all of the right reasons. Yes we are publishers, but we are also marketers. That is the advantage.
We can't do it alone.
Of course we can't do it alone, we need your book. But more than that, we need your participation. No one is better prepared than the author to identify the appeal of his/her work. Identifying the audience and marketing to that audience needs to be a collaborative process. We can't do it alone. Without an identified target market, there is no one to market to.
What type of books do you publish ?
We are looking for books that have a definite, defined market appeal, and we are looking to work with authors who are able to identify who they feel their work will appeal to. Anyone can write and publish a book; many people can write and publish a book that sells a little, but it is the very few who can write, publish and market a book that has broad market (ie: strong sales) appeal. It is these books that we are looking for.
What do we charge to publish a book ?
Generally speaking, we don't charge you to publish your book. If we feel your book meets all of our general criteria for broad market appeal, we will publish your book and work with you to get your book to market. There will be instances when perhaps the book doesn't meet all of our criteria. Generally, in these cases, we will come back to you and see what you want to do. Do you want to rework the book, do you want our help to rework the book, do you want to take the book to another Publisher…or do you feel so strongly about the work that you think it is marketable? We can look at all of these things, and between us, we will find the best way to approach the product. Ultimately, and always, it will be a collaboration, and hopefully, along the way, we will find the magic combination of product and marketability.
What if I've already gone ahead and published my book and now need to help market it ?
We can help. If you have gone the POD (Print On Demand) route and now find yourself with a thousand copies of your book sitting in the garage, we can help you bring your work to market. Together we can explore the best approach to find that niche reader who is waiting for what you have written. We've seen this before. Writer's are not marketers, and good thing too, because we need more writers, not more marketers. So if you find yourself, books in hand, at a loss as to what to do next, we can work with you to take the next steps, getting your work to market.
I have a pending publishing deal, but it all hinges on me presenting my ideas about how to market my book.
We are hearing this more and more. Large and small Publish Houses are turning to the writer to assist with the marketing plan. The only problem is, writers are not marketers. We can help. We will work with you to create a marketing plan for your work that will satisfy the Publishing Houses as well as position your book for sales. You can then take this marketing plan and confidently present it to the Publishing House, helping you to secure that publishing deal.
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