Lessons for Authors from the NFL Draft
Biff Barnes
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which bills itself as the largest book festival in the country, will draw 150,000 people to the University of Southern California campus this weekend.
Speakers will include literary superstars Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Lethem, but there will be plenty more including Lemony Snicket, Basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Olympic Gold Medalist Brian Boitano, Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, and Hollywood celebrities Molly Ringwald, Carol Burnett and John Cusack. There will be screenings by the USC Film School and Southern California’s food trucks.
On another level the festival is a lot like another event less than a week away the National Football League Draft.
The draft is an event at which every NFL team is trying to put together a roster of players that will take it one step closer to the Super Bowl Championship.
Most of the folks at the LA Times Festival will be like the millions of football fans who will be entertained by the unfolding action. But there will be a significant number of authors who are just finished with a book or who will be finished soon. They are a lot like the NFL coaches and general managers who are trying to put together a winning team.
The difference is that the authors will be trying to put together a team that will help make their book a success. Some will be looking for literary agents to place their book with a traditional publisher. Others plan to self-publish and need editors and book designers to help them create a professional looking product. Most of them will be looking for help with publicity and marketing for their book.
As they search for talent for their team, there are some things these authors could learn from the denizens of the NFL draft rooms.
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