submissions@lorimer.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u00a0We work closely with writers in developing their concept through the course of drafting the book, working within an agreed timeframe.
When making a submission, please:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) Name your files with the following format:<\/strong>
YOUR NAME_PROJECT TITLE_Document description.\u00a0 Ex: JANE DOE_A GREAT BOOK TITLE_Sample Chapter
2) Send one email containing the following 3 documents as Microsoft Word or PDF files:<\/strong>
\u2022 A detailed chapter-by-chapter plot outline\/synopsis if proposing a story (Be sure to spoil the ending for us! We need to know what happens- don\u2019t leave us guessing)
\u2022 A sample chapter, if available
\u2022 Information about yourself and your interest in writing for Lorimer. We usually like to know: the Province\/Territory you live in, your profession (or what else might position you as an authority on the subject you are writing about-volunteer work, personal experiences, etc), and what writing experience you have (blogs, published works, articles, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n3) Indicate in your email:<\/strong>
\u2022 If your submission is a simultaneous submission (is your proposal also with another publisher?)
\u2022 The best way to contact you.
If the above guidelines are not followed, your submission may not be read. It is not possible for us to respond to all those who submit, but we try! Submissions that interest our editorial team will be notified within 8 weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPublishing and self-publishing<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMany writers who approach us come with experience with self-publishing. Their initial view is often that there is little difference between the two. In fact, looking at a print book that has been self-published and a print book that has been published by a trade book publishing house like Lorimer, the differences are not obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publishing with a trade publishing house<\/u><\/strong>. Publishing with Lorimer, or another trade publishing house, is a collaboration between writer and publisher. The writer provides the publishable manuscript; the publisher provides all the services involved. These include working with the author to develop the publishable manuscript, turning it into a print and digital book, and promoting, marketing and selling that book to readers and the many intermediaries involved \u2013 bookstores, libraries, educators, reviewers, award juries and others. The publisher covers all the costs involved, and looks to revenues from sales to cover those costs. In Canada, Canadian-owned publishers also look to government grants which cover a portion of their publishing costs. The author receives an advance on royalties from the publisher (in our case, usually $1,000-$1,500) and earns royalties on every copy sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSelf-publishing<\/u><\/strong>. Many companies big and small, from Amazon on down, offer writers self-publishing services. Writers pay fees to have their manuscripts turned into print (and usually digital) books. The self-publishing company delivers the copies that the author has paid for. Often the self-publishing company puts the book up for sale in a few commercial channels, particularly on-line bookstores. The author pays a substantial amount up front. The self-publishing company makes its money from the author. If there are sales of the book, the money goes to the author.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe key difference<\/u><\/strong>. The most important difference for a writer between these two models is that publishing with a trade publishing house always earns some money for the writer. On occasion, it\u2019s a lot when a book becomes a real bestseller. In contrast, working with a self-publisher always costs the author significant money up front, and only occasionally results in the author earning enough from book sales to cover the up-front costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy is this so important for authors? The key fact is that a trade publishing house lives or dies on its success at selling authors\u2019 books. If the books sell, the trade publishing house earns back its investment. If the book (and others like it) don\u2019t sell, the publishing house goes out of business. There are in fact lots of publishing houses that have gone out of business in Canada in the past decades. Fortunately, Lorimer has been publishing for 50+ years, and earning back the money it puts into writers\u2019 books. In contrast, a self-publishing company makes its profit by charging authors money. It does not live on book sales; it lives on authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More differences.<\/u><\/strong> A second important difference between the two models is a direct consequence of this financial setup. Author manuscripts are evaluated quite differently by trade publishers and self-publishers. A trade publishing house is focused on finding and publishing manuscripts which will appeal to readers, and to the key intermediaries of booksellers, libraries, educators, reviewers and award juries. Its lifeline is promotion, sales and marketing. It aims to sell as many copies as possible of each book it publishes. A self-publishing company doesn\u2019t\u2019 evaluate a manuscript; it focuses on the author\u2019s capacity to pay. Its aim is to sell services to writers, making as much money as possible from each writer it deals with. It can also earn some extra money from any books that sell, but sales are not the key objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe third difference between the two models flows from the first two. Authors who are taken on by a trade publishing house work in collaboration with publishers\u2019 editors. The editor\u2019s goal is to work with the author to achieve a publishable manuscript, one that will appeal to readers and intermediaries and will get purchased, borrowed and read. An author brings their talent and experience to the project; the editor brings their knowledge of writing and audiences. This collaboration is key to a manuscript becoming publishable by a trade publisher. The best way to understand how this relationship works in practice is reading the memoirs of successful authors and their accounts of their work with their publishers\u2019 editors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Self-publishing companies usually offer writers editing services. These can be bare bones, but can also extend to more intensive editorial work. Freelance book editors also offer their services to writers. These working relationships can help writers effectively write about their reality and the story they wish to tell. But the editor\u2019s goal is to earn their money by keeping the writer-client happy. It\u2019s not to ensure the manuscript will appeal to readers and intermediaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Want to be a published author?<\/u><\/strong> The bottom line is this: a writer can get their book into print, thanks to self publishing companies, spending money to do so. But the book is not actually published, given the real meaning of the word \u2013 which is that a book is effectively made public A book is published only when it is effectively promoted, marketed, and sold so that it reaches readers. It is effectively offered to readers through the intermediaries, the bookstores, libraries, reviewers, and award juries who operate the companies and organizations that that connects published books to readers. That is what a trade book publisher does.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWriters get published by providing a publishable manuscript to a trade publishing house. This always involves the author collaborating with the publisher\u2019s editor to work through the process of developing that publishable manuscript. Once done, it\u2019s the publisher, not the author, who spends the money putting the book in print and taking it to readers through the book market. The author receives money for their work \u2013 instead of spending money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have a manuscript you\u2019ve written, with an audience of friends and family in mind, you can be well served by a reasonably priced self-publishing company. If you want to write a manuscript which will reach readers through bookstores and libraries, you will be well-served by working with us or another trade publishing house that offers you a collaboration. It\u2019s your creative work, combined with our experience, skills and money, that will make you a real \u201cpublished authors\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Publishing with us Middle grade\/YA fiction \u2014 Taking Action Some background. There have been dramatic changes in the readership of middle grade and teen fiction since the early 2020s in Canada and the US. Reading for enjoyment by teens has declined, as is evident from Canadian public library circulation figures. Pressures on school and public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7885","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7885"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12212,"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7885\/revisions\/12212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorimer.ca\/childrens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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