| You're an eager author. You have a great book idea. | | | | room for one more. Like yours. |
| You're all fired up about it and think it will sell like | | | | Then there are books that may appear on Amazon |
| wildfire. So you're getting ready to pitch your idea to | | | | but that are out of print. Don't even mention these. |
| literary agents and publishers. Of course you're going | | | | They're not your competition. |
| to use a book proposal to do that, and one of the | | | | Finally there are books that are in print and are selling. |
| things you're going to do is tell them that nobody has | | | | You can tell if a book is in print by looking at the top |
| ever written a book like yours before -- nobody, not | | | | where it mentions the price. If Amazon is selling it |
| Stephen King, not Michael Crichton, not anybody. | | | | new, then it's probably in print. This is your |
| Right? | | | | competition. But it's easy to deal with it. |
| Oops! You just went to and did a book search, and | | | | The thing you want to do is admit that this book |
| to your great embarrassment, guess what? Hard to | | | | exists, that it is on your topic, but then immediately |
| believe, incredibly hard to believe, but you found that | | | | say something negative about it, or explain in a few |
| there are four -- count 'em -- yes, four books on | | | | words why your book will be better or more popular. |
| your topic that have been published by other people. | | | | DEALING WITH COMPETING BOOKS |
| How dare they! How could they! Now what are you | | | | "Can you show me how to do this?" Sure, here's an |
| going to do? | | | | example. Let's say you're writing a book about sports |
| THE COMPETING BOOKS SECTION OF YOUR BOOK | | | | cars and the title of your book is going to be HOW |
| PROPOSAL | | | | TO CARE FOR YOUR SPORTS CAR. Pick a popular |
| I'll tell you what you're going to do, and it's really | | | | competing book and describe it and then knock it, |
| easy. Trust me, this is kid stuff. It doesn't matter | | | | like this: "Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race |
| how many books there are on your subject already. | | | | Driving (Bentley Publishers 2001) by Carl Lopez is all |
| It could be one or it could be a hundred, the | | | | about race car driving and has very little information |
| procedure is always the same. You select the top | | | | that would help the owner of a sports car. My book, |
| books that are your competition and you talk about | | | | on the other hand, will be all about caring for your |
| them in your competing books section of your book | | | | sports car, including practical tips every reader can |
| proposal. | | | | use." |
| "Talk about them?" you ask. "Why should I even | | | | That was easy, wasn't it? |
| mention them? I don't want my publisher to know | | | | See what you did there? You described the |
| about them! They might not want to buy my book." | | | | competing book in one sentence. You wrote the title |
| Now, that's a natural first reaction. But think about it. | | | | and author, and you included the publisher and the |
| You can't prevent your publisher from knowing about | | | | date of publication. Not only did you describe the |
| these other books. You found them easily enough by | | | | competing book, but in the same sentence in which |
| going on Amazon.com, didn't you? Well, guess who's | | | | you described it, you also criticized it, that is, you said |
| on Amazon nearly every day? Yup, that's right. Your | | | | something negative about it. No matter how great a |
| prospective literary agent and your new editor. | | | | book is, there's always something negative you can |
| These are professional book people. They virtually | | | | say about it because no book can cover everything. |
| live on Amazon. So don't think they won't find out | | | | And you're not saying this other book isn't a good |
| about these competing books. | | | | book. It may be a great book (if it is don't say that |
| "Then what am I going to do? They'll never buy my | | | | in your proposal!) but it just doesn't cover everything, |
| book once they see all this competition." | | | | and it doesn't cover what your book covers, namely |
| HOW TO KNOCK THE COMPETITION | | | | HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR SPORTS CAR. |
| Let me share a secret that all nonfiction book | | | | Deal with the top three or four competing books and |
| authors know. It's easy to deal with competing | | | | leave it at that. Once a publisher and literary agent |
| books. Sometimes the very fact that there are | | | | see that your book proposal fairly deals with the |
| competing books is good for you. How? Well, it | | | | competition, they'll know that your title can hold its |
| shows there's a market for your type of book. After | | | | own in the marketplace. And that's going to help you |
| all, if there are fifteen other books selling like | | | | sell your book and land that publishing contract. |
| hotcakes about sports cars, chances are there's | | | | |