Demystifying the Acquisitions Meeting
What actually happens in the room where it happens
Mar 5
OK, you’ve gotten an agent, your agent has submitted your graphic novel pitch to multiple publishers, editors have taken it to editorial meetings, and now, finally, an editor is bringing your book to acquisitions.
So what does this mean, and what are your chances—at this point—of landing a book deal?
In my former life as an editor, I’ve been present in—and presented in—hundreds of acquisitions meetings, and I’m about to tell you how they work, what happens behind those closed doors, and what hoops your project has to jump through to land that elusive publishing contract.
First, the caveats: Though I’ve been involved in acqs meetings at a handful of publishers and heard a lot about meetings at many others, that doesn’t mean I know how all publishers work. Meetings are different in different places; personalities are involved; and things change over time. I’m not going to list publishers or tell you something that is specific to any one publisher. But I will tell you the elements all acquisitions meetings share (in my experience):
They are probably the most difficult meetings editors have to attend.
They are unpredictable.
There is (almost always) one decider.
I’m going to break these down, but if you want a longer and more detailed (and potentially more colorful) description of these elements, check out the fireside chat I did with Janna Morishima over at Kids Comics Unite (you don’t have to be a member of KCU to view, but you should be! It’s free!).
OK, so an editor is bringing your book to acquisitions. What do they have to do to get ready? First they have to create a P&L (which stands for profit and loss) document that is an estimate of how much the book will cost to acquire and produce, how many copies might get sold in the first, second, and (sometimes) third year of publication, and how this all rolls up into profit for the publisher. The P&L is basically the financial story of the book. Or the financial story the editor is telling about the book. This is one way the editor shows the acquisitions team that acquiring this book is a good business decision.