1. Add more titles to augment sales. (I hate this option the most. More titles, more work, usually fewer sales … plus you inevitably publish titles of lesser quality.)

2. Sell more copies of existing authors and titles. (As Karp points out, most executives don't accept this as a viable option when the industry is flat, at best.)

3. Ask popular authors to "increase output."

4. Diversify your "product line."

5. Cut costs, pray to the gods of movie tie-in paperback editions or hope that one of your authors gets his or her own talk show.

… publishers will be forced to invest in works of quality to maintain their niche. These books will be the one product that only they can deliver better than anyone else. Those same corporate executives who dictate annual returns may begin to proclaim the virtues of research and development, the great engine of growth for business. For publishers, R&D means giving authors the resources to write the best books -- works that will last, because the lasting books will, ultimately, be where the money is.

• Demands answers immediately; e-mails or calls repeatedly; everything is urgent
  
• Insists on having everything their way
• Unwillingness to negotiate or compromise; general inflexibility
• Tremendous self-importance (ego, ego, ego)
  
• Demands everyone else conform to their schedule and preferences

• Confident in themselves, but not egotistical
• Flexible and know how to compromise or handle change
• Strive for excellence; seek every opportunity to improve their work
• Have a positive attitude and don't play the victim
  

• It’s likely that you and your editor will have some good and bad times.
• It’s easy to be kind during the good times, but it’s just as important—if not more so—to be kind during the bad times.
• Remember that your editor is your voice—your supporter and champion—within the publishing house. If you throw a tantrum or resort to name-calling, etc., your editor is likely to come to think of you as a “problem author.”

• Submitting less than your best.
• Submitting your work without knowing the market (publisher, agent, and/or audience).

… In my experience, unwanted-by-the-marketing-department books are, in fact, books that the editor himself was either insufficiently passionate about, or for which the editor failed, finally, to demonstrate—above all, to himself—that he had a vision for how to publish it effectively.

1. Do YOU the author have a vision for how to publish the book effectively? Have you conveyed this vision convincingly? If you have, can the editor explain the weaknesses in it?
   
2. Is your concept truly compelling, something worth an editor getting passionate about? Remember, editors put their reputations on the line when acquiring your project. If it doesn't sell down the road, that's a mark against their judgment.
   

No Roadblocks to Publishing in New Categories

1. A publisher's sales staff (or its distributor) calls directly on buyers for Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. These meetings happen regularly throughout the year.
2. Chain bookstore buyers are divided into categories. For example, there is one buyer for fiction at Barnes & Noble, Sessalee Hensley. She decides how many copies Barnes & Noble will buy of any particular fiction title. (To understand this fully, I highly recommend reading "This Buyer of Fiction Has Real Clout" in the Wall Street Journal.)
3. Publishers' salespeople meet with one buyer at a time (that is, salespeople don't have an audience with all the buyers at once).
4. To meet with a buyer, a publisher needs to be releasing a certain number of titles each season to merit the sit-down. This number is around 4-6 titles.
5. If this threshold is not met, then the publisher is forced to do a "drop off," where sales materials are dropped off in the buyer's mailbox. As you might imagine, this is a terrible way to sell a book; it often results in very low buys or passes (when a store decides not to stock a book at all). The situation becomes even more challenging when a publisher does not have an established relationship with a particular buyer or does not have a reputation in the category.

1. Build a new program around a category that has 4-6 titles per season associated with it.
   
2. Stick to the established categories.

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings—words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.

Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog
By Joe Wikert, VP and Executive Publisher at Wiley

PersonaNonData
By Michael Cairns at Information Media Partners
(former president of R.R. Bowker)

Print Is Dead
By author Jeff Gomez

O'Reilly Radar Publishing blog
A group blog by O'Reilly folks, including Tim O'Reilly

• Credentials and platform are not the same thing. Credentials give you the authority to write on a topic, or inspire trust in the reader. Platform is your visibility to your audience or readership, which helps you promote and sell books. Credentials can help you grow your platform, but alone they do not act as a platform.
• Early in the process it is essential for you to identify your book's category, or where it would be shelved in the bookstore. Publishers pitch books to chain stores based on the book's category (because there are different buyers for each category). It is not possible for your book to be shelved in two different categories in a store (at least not deliberately). This is why it is so difficult to sell hybrid works (like a self-help memoir).
  
• The No. 1 weakness in book proposals that come across my desk? Authors focus too much on themselves or their own ideas and not enough on the audience or market for the work.

• (Friedman Watch!) I met Melanie Donovan, an executive editor from HarperCollins, who said when she saw my name in the program, it gave her a small chill. Apparently, the HarperCollins Jane Friedman is one imposing lady!
• I spoke to several attendees who said this year's Pennwriters conference offered one of the best programs ever—the sessions were hardworking, practical, and useful for anyone trying to break into the industry. Based on the sessions I was able to attend, I agree the information presented has been top-notch for anyone trying to get published.