As many of you may know, yesterday the Twittersphere exploded with a new hashtag #DearPublisher that was brought to us by @JennIRL and @HarperPerennial. It all started innocently with @HarperPerennial suggesting that the hashtag be started so that publishers could hear what readers, writers, bloggers and other publishers have to say. I am not sure that anyone realized that is was going to take over and ruin everyone’s productivity. 


Here are a few examples of what people had to say:

  • @BethFishReads: #dearpublisher tell me about what *you* are reading, what *you’re* excited about, not just what you think will sell well. 
  • @NovelNovice: #DearPublisher We love you. Really, we do. But can you make it easier for book bloggers to reach your publicity teams?
  • @iwilltweet: #dearpublisher If you have a Twitter presence it would be great if you could use it for dialogue rather than just declaration.
  • @TariaReed #DearPublisher You should really rethink how you design your covers. They are all starting to look alike.
  • @LitHousewife #dearpublisher How is it determined whether an older book is reprinted? Have several oop novels on my TBR that I fear I’ll never find.
  • @annaleighclark: #dearpublisher Why so few books in translations? Why so few translated books by authors who aren’t dead? Where are the global voices?
The conversation went on all day and continues even now. I noticed that a lot of the questions had to do with how publishing works and what the process is. For example, if you don’t know the process that goes into a translation, then you may not understand why more are not done. Over the next few posts, I would like to change some of that and walk you through what goes in to making a book.
 
To start us off, you can view our previous posts with tips for submitting a manuscript and a look at what we look at during the acquisitions process. Next week we will learn more about what happens once your book is acquired and what the editorial process is like. If you have any specific questions you would like us to answer next week, leave them in the comments section.