By Jenette del Mundo
This highly engaging talk by Jo Lusby, former CEO of Penguin Random House-North Asia, moderated by WiPS member Sophia Hotung, provided a wealth of advice and useful tips. Jo currently represents IP rights in Asia for specific titles and serves as an author’s agent for narrative non-fiction work, and more recently sci-fi. She gave us an understanding of the workings of the publishing industry, including the importance of finding a literary agent, leveraging the power of social media and being authentic to stand out in what has become a vastly crowded world, especially since AI’s appearance.
The publishing industry in Hong Kong is small compared with Singapore and Beijing’s, and while Blacksmith Books and Earnshaw publish books in English, their annual output from the deluge of submissions they receive is limited. An alternative is vanity publishing: a form of self-publishing through companies like IngramSpark who get a lot of the groundwork done for you, such as editing, layout, book cover design and distribution. Although this comes with a price, a closer understanding and cost-benefit review may prove its worth. Vanity publishing has produced many success stories. KDP Kindle from Amazon is another option, but lately it has suffered a heavy backlash because of misleading AI-generated information and stories.
Finding a literary agent makes sense, but know that agents have no financial obligation to sell your books. They will sell what they can and help you connect to the right publisher and editor, but the process of finalizing and sending proposals to authors is lengthy. Check your local bookstore for agents. “Search for similar genre books written preferably by lesser-known authors,” says Jo, “and take note of agents’ names and details.” Literary festivals are another source where publishers and agents gather looking for talented authors. Jaipur and Singapore are good festivals to learn and network from.
To increase your chances of getting published be authentic, sell where you feel relevant, be discoverable, build your following and look further afield if local resources are lacking.
The talk ended with a Q&A and a huge thank you to both Jo and Sophia.