Panelists:
Lyle Mortimer—Cedar Fort
Kirk Shaw—Covenant
Lisa Mangum—Deseret Book & Shadow Mountain
Chris Bigelow—Zarahemla

Walnut Springs Press was supposed to have an panelist with us, but she wasn’t able to attend. (New imprint of Leatherwood—contact info on LDStorymakers)—inspirational fiction, romance or suspense, YA, fantasy

Chris Bigelow—Zarahemla Books “niche” publisher

• focused on Mormon market on “grown up” books (not “adult” 😉 Fiction and memoir.
• Open to any kind of storytelling in those modes, including genre—scifi, horror; experimental with Mormon themes
• Somewhat literary, short story collections (usually only for those who’ve been previously pubbed in journals)
• “blind spot” for poetry—not looking for it
• If you can get one of the big three to publish your book, that’s where you should go. But if they say your book’s too edgy, come to Zarahemla
• 3-6 books a year
• prefer submissions that come with recommendations—include it with your submission

Lisa Mangum—Deseret Book and Shadow Mountain (national market imprint—children’s fantasy, etc.)

• 150 products a year—incl new material, paperback reprints and music
• 1500 submissions a year
• try to find the MS that are really well written, have a strong voice, want things that are marketable and will draw customers to stores

Kirk Shaw—Covenant

• Gift books (Worldwide ward cookbook, Sweetwater Rescue, Saints @ War, Pres & Prophets)
• Genre fiction, esp romance—suspense, historical. Chick lit
• Inspirational rather than scholarly doctrinal; music line, talk CDs, etc.
• Not as much fantasy & scifi

Lyle Mortimer—Cedar Fort

• “He who writes the nation’s stories need not worry who governs.” —Unknown
• pub books that make a difference in the world (and make money)
  70-85% = nonfiction—Gospels Made Easier is best seller, #2 = Shell Game (#31 on NYT Bestseller list)
• gifts & sculpture
• Total 175 projects; about 120 books a year

Questions

How does each house distribute?

• Lyle—have their own warehouse & dist own products
• Kirk—do own to independents, chains, local BIG chains
• Lisa—Through Des Book & Seagull, B&N, Amazon, independent bookstores
• Chris—Ingram Distributor gets books out nationally; Granite publishing and dist pick up half the titles to get them to independent LDS titles, and Deseret Book outlets from time to time

What do you do to market and publicize the books you accept?

• Chris—very driven by reviews: placing ARCs with local media, publisher’s weekly, national media
• Lisa—Robust mkting dept—help with author websites, book signings, ARCs, school visits, conferences, posters, bookmarks, commercials, radio, newspaper, catalogues
• Kirk—Catalogues—huge, large majority; radio and TV behind big projects. Best timing = conference time, mother’s day, father’s day, Christmas. Fiction doesn’t get as much of that, though. Great pool of authors who push to do school tours, creative contests, blogs, website development. A lot of publishers will tell you authors tend to complain about a.) royalties and b.) lack of marketing support, thinking that the publisher’s going to do it for them. Grassroots author involvement.
• Lyle—Authors often feel publishers don’t do enough to move their book. What is your publisher going to do to make your book a bestseller? NOTHING. The publisher will do whatever he has to to make a ROI. YOU have to put in the legwork. It feeds itself.

Are any of you planning to do eBooks?

• Lisa—short answer: yes. We are working mostly to get our backlist as well as our new titles available for Kindle, though Amazon, and things like that. I don’t know if we would ever do a books specifically and exclusively as an ebook, but we’re trying to get all of our published book converted.
• Kirk—Ditto.
• Lyle—Tough to stay up to date. E format and paper go hand in hand.
• Chris—Not excited personally about ebooks yet, but a few authors have wanted to go onto Kindle and it’s very easy.

Typically, how many debut authors do you take on a year?

• Chris—not very many, sometimes none.
• Lisa—Some every year. Always very nice :D. On average, maybe 6-8? Good year, 8-10.
• Kirk—About the same, maybe a little more than that. Try to fit them in with their established authors. Tricky—balancing groups. Big names, middle lists, debuts.
• Lyle—a pub’s most efficient author is a repeat author. Debut novels are harder to sell (100x harder on national market vs. LDS market)—about 80 new authors a year, looking for the good stories

How many kissing scenes would push a novel out of the LDS market? [Just kidding] How many of the authors you pub come to you with an agent and how many pick up an agent later?

• Kirk—I think it’s more of the quality of the kissing? 😉 Broad gamut—he’s the most liberal editor at Covenant, compare notes with other editors, what will the readership be happy with?
• Lisa—a handful have picked up agents after coming to us, but vast majority don’t and won’t. And 3.5 kisses.
• Chris—If these guys are too prudish for you, come to Zarahemla. Not on agents’ radars.
• Lyle—2 authors on NYT list 3x each, and in those negotiations, the agents had no part. Both had agents, both got paid, but he’s never met the agents. If anyone has an answer to the kissing question, he’d like to know. He doesn’t have an answer—but they have to be integral to the story.

What are you looking for/what is your greatest need?

• Lyle—I’m not the acquisitions editor, etc., I’m the publisher. Looking for great books that will sell.
• Kirk—story of friend who comes to him every few months chasing trends and paychecks. Find what you love writing and if you see a good opportunity to rip stuff from the headlines, then do it.
• Lisa—We’re looking for your book because you have something only you can say and only you can tell that story.
• Chris—Adult fiction, memoir. Identifiably Mormon and yet really different.
• Kirk—look at where your book would fit on the shelf. Find something that will grab someone with just one sentence.

Once you have the MS ready to submit, should you focus on one pub or multiple?

• Lyle—simultaneous submissions used to be almost nonethical. But these days, not so much. Just specify in letter. Can be good and bad for author. Editor may be less interested or feel more pressure to look at it.
• Kirk [Sorry, trying to catch up]
• Lisa—Send to lots of publishers, but make sure they’re the right publishers for you
• Chris—encourages simultaneous submissions, but he doesn’t see any point in subbing to Zarahemla while subbing to mainstream publishers. Wait until you strike out but getting good feedback.

What can we say to make us stick out in your minds?

• Chris—Looking for noting that they’ve taken classes (and the professor loved their manuscript), pubbed author liked their manuscript
• Lisa—Not to suck up, but really: “say LDStorymakers.” This is her fave conf to come to b/c we’re the most passionate. Networking like this is huge for her.
• Kirk—(Reference to Miss Snark’s blog)—networking. Try to present yourself as a person, and treat them as if they’re just another person. Ask what they’ve read recently that you’ve enjoyed? Be personable and don’t pitch at first. Eventually in the relationship, they may ask you or invite you to tell about your work.
• Lyle—Facebook! Request him as a friend. (Pretty sure at the book.) Elevator pitches! 15 second max. Always take the opportunity to mention it!

If I’m writing to boys 8-12, who do I submit to?

• Lyle—Me.
• Kirk—Sure.
• Lisa—One person handles all incoming subs to sort to readers.
• Chris—Haven’t done anything there yet, but they’ll consider it if it’s edgy. ‘Cause that’s a great age group to write edgy stuff for.

What’s going to kill your book fastest (pet peeves)?

• Kirk—polygamy
• Lyle—authors demanding marketing. Recently received a manuscript with a picture of the author on it. Nude.
• (audience—send it to Zarahemla!)
• Chris—We require that kind of photo! 😉
• Lyle—don’t just follow the market.
• Lisa—Bad writing. Really obviously bad writing. Timing.
• Chris—don’t call or come to my house. Email, please?
• Kirk—The little things—go to the website and follow submission guidelines. Yes, really.

How do you feel about self-pubbed authors subbing a new MS to you?

• Chris—If you’ve self-pubbed a book with total sales ~2000, you can shop it to a publisher to reprint/republish. Zarahemla wouldn’t be turned off by that, but if they did it well it’d be a positive.
• Lisa—Agree. Hardpressed to name any self-pubbed books they’ve bought rights for and pubbed. But if you were submitting a diff book, being self-pubbed wouldn’t be held against you. It’d show you’re serious, you have confidence, you have at least some exposure.
  Kirk—No stigma against someone who’d pubbed before. To be blunt: it’s hard to take that same book and bring it into the house and try to repub it with new cover, etc. Have had authors do that—self-pubbed or smaaaalll press that folded. Dilemma: bookstores look at author’s sales record. Usually order less than the last book the author sold. While they wouldn’t refuse to look at stuff because it’s self-pubbed, they only want to see unpubbed works. Carefully consider who you used, how you sold, how bookstores you’ve sold through would consider their books.
• Lyle—not kidding about FB. Send me a message that you’re a member of LDStorymakers so he’ll confirm. Self-pub isn’t a problem for him, but for us. He’s a gatekeeper for the market and a value-adder. Better design, better editing, nature of the business. Least expensive way is to go through a publisher. EX: David Ridges = best selling doctrinal author. He doesn’t sell more books per title, but in 6 years he’s produced 25 products and he sells a lot of product. Sounds of Zion distributed his self-pubbed book; Cedar Fort picked it up and it’s really taken off.

About the conference: LDStorymakers is a writing contest geared to LDS writers. The conference covers both the niche, regional publishers that cater to the LDS market as well as national publishers.