Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

A cliché phrase, yes, but heed its warning.

We are entering a new normal, and that goes for the publishing world, too.

The status quo always gets challenged one way or another.

Only ten days ago—a lifetime ago, it seems—the Wall Street Journal reported that ViacomCBS hoped to sell Simon & Schuster, its publishing house, for $1.2 billion. The corporate giant wants to spend that cash on beefing up its video streaming service.

Point being: If you’re pinning your hopes on landing a book deal with only S&S, you’ll either wait a while until they sort that out or you’ll be super lucky.

So, spread your query letters or book proposals far and wide. And let the agents do that work for you. It’s their job.

That’s traditional publishing. The same’s true for self-publishing.

We’ve seen it before. A writer may have been lucky selling books or ebooks solely on Amazon. Then the unthinkable: Amazon reconfigured its algorithm for its own sake, and your sales evaporated.

DO reach out to as many agents as possible. DO sell on Amazon if you feel you must. And DO sell on other platforms as well.

Reduce your risk.