The Real Truth About Book Publishing

What Writers Who Want to Get Published should Know

Sod this. I’ve had it with the literary agents, literary gurus and critics, book writing advisers and bloggers, published authors and all the literary experts who churn out advice to new writers which is total and utter trash. Did I say trash? I take it back: it’s total and utter crap! Here, I said it.

What use can you make of phrases such as, “keep writing”; “don't give up!”; “follow your dream”? Here’s my favourite, “write from the heart”! Yeah, sure. Now that I’ve fallen in love, all I have to do is get a pen and start rolling. Can you believe this nonsense?

Stop being a pompous ass and get real. Tell me not what I think I want to hear or how it ought to be. Tell me how it is. I may not like it, in fact, I’ll hate your guts for it; with a passion. But, I’ll know where I stand. It’s all that matters because it makes for a good fresh start. And it’ll only get better from now on because it can’t get any worse. 

So instead of telling me a sack load of empty and meaningless garbage phrases, tell me about the basics. Show me what I’m against. Be specific. Here’s why.

Writing a book, and for that matter, any type of writing, isn’t rocket science, or superior to any other human activity. It has its tricks and the ins and outs any other activity does. It has basic principles one should know about and be aware of. Well, talk to me about these.

Think it this way. Writing is similar to making bread; you need to know the stages of and have the basic ingredients needed to make bread, and also have the right tools to pull it through.

The same applies with writing and publishing books and...

There are steps to be taken in order to get a book out into the world. To write it you need a structure. Instead of telling me to write from the blinking heart show me that structure. To make it readable you need to format your book so it reads with ease. If you can’t show me how to publish it, at least explain to me how the system works.

This is what I’m going to talk about:

The basic stages a book goes through you should know about...

So if you want to write you know what you are up against; it can also help you handle your book writing project better. Or ditch it altogether. One decision is as good as the other, so long as it is an informed one.

Here we go.

There are three stages every book that has ever been or will ever be published has gone or will go through:

• The Idea
• The Product
• The Consumer

1. Book the Idea

At this stage, the book takes physical form from the initial idea to the written manuscript. This stage can take from a few weeks to many years, and it can be the creation of one or more than one person. The work can be short, long or even volumes of thousands of pages.

During the Idea stage, the book has no value apart from the value its creator attaches to it. Such value is not realistic because the writer is emotionally attached to his or her work and cannot be impartial in judging its real value. Anything that begins with and takes shape from an idea involves emotion. And where emotion is involved, reason and cool judgment go out of the window.

Try telling a writer that his or her book isn’t that good and needs a bit of shaping. He or she won’t take it lightly at all. It’s like telling parents their child is spoiled; you risk becoming public enemy number one. I did once. With my brother. I told him his son - my nephew - was unruly and needed a bit of tough love. I am still known as the uncle from hell.

Anyway, I was talking to a writer not long ago. He had written a book and kept asking me to take a look at it and give some feedback. I didn’t want to but he wouldn’t let go. Someone had told him his book was going to be the next Harry Potter.

I didn’t want to get involved because I didn’t want to upset him. I gave in and read the first chapters. It was dull and, on the top of it, in every three sentences, two ended with an exclamation mark. I said so. He hasn’t spoken to me ever since.

Writing a book is not easy. It becomes though easier when there is a beginning, middle and an end. In other words, you make a plan; do your research and then fill in the gaps. This topic has to wait.

The job of the writer ends up here and the book is ready for the next stage.

2. Book the Product

At this stage, the book loses its emotional value and is treated as a product which has the potential to sell and make money. There are many steps from proofreading and cover design to how to price it, market and advertise it that can increase the book’s potential to sell more. Publishing books is costly; most titles don’t sell more than 5,000 copies a year. You have to break even early on otherwise as a publisher you go belly up.

The product stage can be the work of one or more than one person and can last from a few days to months, even years. The publishing industry is slow. This stage ought to be detached emotionally to the work. Any work.

The first two stages do not get along. In fact, they hate each other’s guts. Their approach is different. The product stage welcomes and proposes changes to the manuscript. The first stage, the idea, resists them. Writers cannot bear to see their work changed. It’s unnatural and also painful. I’m with them on this.

Publishers, on the other hand, cannot afford to be emotionally attached to one’s book. It’s impractical. They can change the entire book and leave very little of the first draft if needed (I’ll talk about copyright and moral rights another time).

A balance must be found otherwise it won’t work. Remember, editing is not about finding faults with a book, it’s about finding ways…

To make the book better

Here’s a snippet of what the product stage involves. There are three types of editing:

• Light
• Medium
• Heavy

Which are carried out through self-editing; peer editing; or a combination of both.

Now, I’m not going to go into details about editing because I’ll do it in a series of other posts. Even if I wanted to go into it now, fired up as I am, it’ll do more harm than good. Editing needs a cool head and a calm hand.

Each stage aims for the third and final stage.

3. Book the Consumer

At this stage, the book is sent into the world and left to the reader’s judgment. Up to this point every book is equal. This is the most unpredictable stage. Books that were hyped up and expected to do well flopped. Others that were given no hope of selling more than a handful of copies became huge best-sellers. Did you see what happened to Fifty Shades of Grey?

The Consumer stage involves the effort of one or more than one person, and it may last for as long as the book exists. Marketing and advertising is a vital part of this stage. Launching the book is one of the steps of a long selling process. As with other products, there are many ways to skin a cat.

Do as much as you can and whatever it takes to polish your book during the second stage. This will make the job of the third stage easier. For example, the book cover must be designed to sell the book, not to make it look good. That is if you want the book to sell.

The third stage brings the first two stages closer. The writer reaches the aim of getting published and gaining recognition; making money is a by-product. The publisher, by selling the book makes money, recognition is a by-product.

These are the three stages every book goes through. Each stage is as important as and cannot do without the other stages. Nor can the order of these stages be changed. And it doesn’t matter if the book is published by a third party, a publisher, or is self-published. These stages apply the same.

This will do.

Now, let’s talk about your book.

You know that trying to get a manuscript through to a publisher to be considered for publication is next to impossible. Almost of all works submitted get rejected without even being looked at. I don’t agree with this, but this is how it is.

Writing a book is extremely difficult. Anyone who has written one or has tried to knows what I’m talking about. Which is why every manuscript deserves a chance to be read, at least. Regardless of my ranting earlier, without writers we’ll be lost. How are we going to find new and great works to read if we don’t give a chance to a manuscript?

It is one thing to reject writers after reading their work, quite another throwing their book in the bin without ever reading a single sentence. It breaks my heart to see writers sending manuscripts around and have their hopes crushed by waiting in vain for a response or by bland and soulless rejection letters. I know the feeling. It’s not fair, yet we can do something about it.

So if you have written a book, have an idea for one, fiction or non-fiction, feel free to contact me or submit a sample of it. I can’t guarantee it’ll get published. But what I can guarantee is I’ll read it and come back to you with an answer, an honest one. If you want to go ahead and publish it yourself, I can put together a package that would give your book a good and real chance to stand out and sell and also won’t break the bank.

It’s the first step to seeing your book published. You don’t need to send a cover letter or write a complicated synopsis. You don’t need to go through a long and hard process of filling out forms. You can submit it using the link below or simply get in touch.

Here’s the link: https://www.paulsmithpublishing.co.uk/login/

But don’t forget to do it as soon as possible, In fact, do it right now. Not next week, not tomorrow. The longer you wait the harder it’ll be to get through and see it published. Here’s the link again: https://www.paulsmithpublishing.co.uk/login/

If you have any questions or want to get in touch this is my email [email protected]

Thanks for making it so far.

Paul

PS.1 If you know any writer, friends, family or colleagues, who would benefit from this piece or, send it them, or share it by using LinkedIn’s like and social media share gizmos (I hope they are still at the bottom and have not been taken away!).

PS.2 I promised the next post would be about how to polish your writing and get your message through with lightning speed. Here it is: https://bit.ly/1Z7c7Ke