I have a wonderful writing mentor, Nancy I. Sanders, who taught me to query a publisher before writing a book. And believe me, it works! I just finished writing a 10 chapter work-for-hire book for Legacy Press/Rainbow Publishers, with a topic I had queried them almost two years ago. This means I signed the contract BEFORE writing the book! Querying saves time on our part because we’re not writing an unwanted manuscript.
If you’ve never done this before, give it a try. Find a publisher that you’re interested in. Study their web site and list of books. Try to find a “hole” in their list and offer to write those topics. For example, if a publisher has a series on grasslands, tundra, and forests, you could offer to write books on the other ecosystems of ocean, rainforests, desert, …
You can send a query email to the editor.
I hope it works!
Tina's Tidbits 
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 13, 2012 at 11:00 am
Giora
Thanks for the idea, Tina. My second YA novel is now at 12K words and I wonder if I should start sending queries before reaching the 60K words. Almost all literary agents ask for a complete manuscript, but maybe following your example book publishers are more open. I know about another story that a publisher approached a not famous author to write a book based on their idea. She wrote a sample, and they hired her. Not sure what your current book is about, but noticing your connection to Korea .. I enjoy listening to Korean songs on YouTube. Hyorin is my favourite singer now. Good luck with the book
May 13, 2012 at 3:16 pm
tinamcho
Giora, thanks for stopping by. Yes, you could try querying editors first to see if they like your idea. Nancy, my mentor, does it all the time and gets her contracts this way. Best wishes!
May 14, 2012 at 7:25 am
Mirka Breen
You’ve done it, so you know the scoop. I think this is an excellent approach to educational & non-fiction.
May 14, 2012 at 4:21 pm
tinamcho
Thanks, Mirka! I wonder if anyone has received a contract for fiction this way.