Writing and Publishing News

Have you ever noticed that when someone asks you a question and they don’t like the answer, they will ask you the question again—sometimes rephrasing it?

“How much are you selling your car for?”
“$10,000.”
“What will you take for it?”
“$10,000.”
“What if I give you $5,000 down?”
“$10,000.”
“Is that a firm price?”
“Yes.”
“I’d sure like to have that car, but I can’t go the ten grand. Will you work with me?”
“Not likely.”
“Will you be lowering the price anytime soon?”

I relive this sort of scenario every week. People contact me and say, “I read in your book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, that publishers don’t allow simultaneous manuscript submissions. How many copies of my manuscript can I send out at one time?”

“One.”

Or they’ll say, “My editor says that I have some spacing errors in my manuscript. I see in your book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book that you agree with her—it is now one-space after the period, question mark, etc. Does this mean I have to go back through my entire manuscript and delete the extra space after every sentence?”

“Yes.”

We want to hear what we want to hear. But, in publishing, we need to hear what we need to hear in order to experience the success we desire. This is why I say, listen to experts with an open mind, embrace those things that resonate with you, but also be willing to consider the truths that don’t feel real comfortable at first. Examine them from all angles, check them out with other publishing professionals and be flexible enough to change where and when appropriate.

If you don’t have a copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and the companion Author’s Workbook, order yours now at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 5:55 am and is filed under Publishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.