Is this too easy or am I just paranoid?

I sought out a publisher for my How To that seemed to be publishing most of the titles I could find in my field that were a.) important - i.e. big names or b.) relevant, and Googled them. There were no submission guidelines on their website, so I called to politely ask for them. I ended up speaking to the editor, who was extremely nice and said they weren't really accepting anything right now, but what did I have in mind? I told him and he said, "that's something we've been missing," (which I knew because I couldn't find anything on this either) and "I'd be interested in seeing writing samples and a proposal." Gulp. I had nothing. Yeah, sure, a full fiction MS, but nothing on this How To yet. I explained that I was early in my search phase and had really just called to get submission guidelines, although I'd be delighted to put something together, which he thought was fine.

I frantically Googled again and found Table of Contents info, checked inside Amazon books for their Table of Contents ideas (Amazon is great for that), wrote a query, Intro, bio and Chapter One and, along with my newly minted Table of Contents, submitted it all via email. The editor told me he wouldn't be able to get to it until end of June, because of prior commitments. Then today he emailed me (totally unprompted) to say it would be a couple more weeks, because he needed to wrap up some projects and wanted to take the appropriate time to "vet" my proposal. I emailed back saying I'd finished chapters two and three (it's been 8 weeks since first submission) and rearranged the Table of Contents and would he like to see them, or wait until he has a chance to review previous material? He said, sure, send them along.

I know I should tell you the name of the publisher, and perhaps this omission takes it out of Backgrounds and Bewares, but I'm afraid that if this editor were to see his publisher's name together with my AW name pop up on a Google search it would be quite obvious who was making this enquiry, and I don't want to sound ungrateful to him, or even more paranoid and naive than I already do.

My questions? Are editors of publishing houses normally so accessible? Do they personally respond to phone calls so easily and in such a cavalier fashion? Do they email without prodding? Am I looking a gift horse in the mouth? What is he looking for in these first few pages? What does this normally pay??? And anything else that you think I could use or need to know!

Thanks, Jeanne. Yes, a legitimate publisher, which is why I called directly and skipped the agent step. They publish very mainstream, very well known books (in this field) by well known industry professionals and others who write lightheartedly about the subject. I've researched and they don't have anything negative. There's just so little on their own website, other than tons of books for sale.

Since it's not, e.g. Simon and Schuster, I'm not sure how this all works (although you did answer part of that) and what - if it's a small publisher, or a typical non-fiction house - they pay or print or...whatever.

Sorry this is so vague. If it can't be answered further by anybody, I understand.

Thanks to all who have posted so far. The comments have been very helpful and allayed many of my fears.

In the event that this editor gets back to me with an acceptance, what would something like this pay?
What does a reasonable advance look like?
Is there an advance in something like this or does it have to be finished first?

I know there is a great deal more in terms of royalties, rights and all that goes into a contract, but what would make sense at the outset if you heard the words, "We love your proposal, would like to offer you a contract and want to pay you..."

Hmm. I could use fat little checks. Lots of them.

And yes, being published would definitely be a plus. In fact I might even forego fat checks for that, as long as some money could be guaranteed eventually! But fat checks sound awfully good...

Laurie PK said:

Wow - that's very exciting, to have a publisher requesting a proposal and sample chapters!

And kudos for calling him.....that's a step I haven't taken, but have heard it's a smart one. Now I see it's true! Even if a book contract doesn't come out of it, you'll still have a proposal and samples to send to other pubs.

Fingers crossed for you!

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Thank you so much for your support. Yes, it was quite a surprise to me too. And you're exactly right about what I have to take elsewhere if this doesn't work out, and I'm continuing to work on it, so I don't feel as if I'm losing any time either.

One thing I've always been very careful about is not abusing the privilege, or ignoring guidelines, which, as the editor below said himself, is annoying and probably won't get you anywhere.

Since then, I have only emailed twice in two months, when I had a specific question and, although it was killing me, did not ask if he'd read it yet. I would have emailed him if we'd gone beyond the specified time "end of June," but he got to me first to say it would take another couple of weeks.

Best of luck with your own work.

talkwrite said:

I'm a series editor with a very old, and small traditional non fiction publisher. I get calls like that and I even respond like that. The only time I don't like phone contact from a potential author is when they don't bother to look up the submission process or genre information on the website.

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