Mark Levine

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Mark Levine

Book Publishing Services and Strategies

264 Ninth St., Ste. 4-O

Jersey City, NJ 07302

(201) 424-5949 (cell) (201) 653-5456 leevyne@aol.com

After a 30-plus year career in book publishing—uniquely combining sales, marketing, and editorial—I have now become able to offer a variety of services to authors and smaller publishers of fiction and non-fiction. My educational background and ongoing interests emphasize American and African American History, but I have also been instrumental in establishing many prominent writers of both fiction and non-fiction throughout my career. My skills and interests are diverse, and are enhanced by a singular intelligence and memory regarding the last decades of publishing, what has worked and what has not.

The foundation of my service is the conviction that marketing does not start with the publication of a book; rather, it can and should start even prior to the point of acquisition by a publisher, perhaps at the onset of writing. The book’s text, its content, its jacket and layout are all elements of marketing. As a reader and consultant, I can “shape” a manuscript, even an unfinished one, utilizing editorial skills and sensibility that I have applied throughout my career, and the sales/marketing expertise that I have acquired through lengthy experience in those departments. I have been Sales Director and/or Editor at several major houses. Unlike many editors, I not only “know books” but also know the marketplace and how to reach it. My appraisal of manuscripts can therefore include:

Suitability for publication, what is needed to make a book more attractive to publishers, distributors, and consumers.
Line editing and basic fact-checking.
General editorial reshaping as needed.
Counsel on what are generally regarded as “details” but which are in fact integral to a book’s marketability: titles, subtitles, reading lines, packaging, and price must be clear, sensible, distinct, “commercial”, and appropriate for inclusion and visibility in the industry’s vital databases and internet sites.
I can enable your book to be optimally attractive to the right buyers in the proper outlets, thus ultimately properly displayed and visible to the potential audience. The result is increased sales.

· Although I am not an agent, I will be able to suggest the route your book should take, which may involve an agent, and I would work with your agent, publisher, distributor, or other representative.

· Sales strategies. How you can “sell” your book to publishers, distributors, or retailers. The sales process today, though not wholly impenetrable, is daunting, indeed irrational … but I can walk you through it painlessly.

· Sales tools, selling points. Having been one, I know what salespeople need to sell titles effectively.

I can perform any or all of the listed services, and my reasonable fee would vary accordingly. Please contact me with additional questions or for fuller details. I can easily provide references or testimonials for each component of my services.