The approval
At most publishing houses, the final purchasing decision is made by the editor in chief, the chief operating officer, or an executive conmiittee. The names of these executive committees differ for each publishing house and include editorial, acquisition, purchase, publishing committees or boards. For our purposes, let’s just refer to them as publishing boards.
A publishing board usually meets at the same time each week. It consists of the publisher, editors, and marketing people. It also can include design and promotion personnel.These boards can range in size from ten to thirty people.
In some companies, the chief operating officer makes the final purchasing decision. Usually, he or she wants everyone on the committee or board to agree, but he or she will often proceed without unanimous approval. Publishing boards set the price that they will be willing to pay for the book and then the publisher sends a contract to the author’s agent or directly to the author if he or she is not represented.
In publishing houses, financial thresholds exist that limit what edi— tors or groups of editors can offer writers for books. To exceed that threshold, they usually have to get approval from the chief financial
officer or someone high on the corporate ladder. If you expect top money, your proposal will get a rigorous reading from the higher-ups,
who function as investment managers.
You, your agent, and the publisher then negotiate the terms of the
contract and sign the deal. If you sold the book on the basis of a proposal, you must now write the manuscript. An editor is assigned to your project, and you should contact the editor to map out the direction of the book and make sure that you’re both on the same page.
Tags: Business