It may seem contradictory, at times—what you hear from publishing professionals. But this is only because we each have different areas of strengths, interest and passion. We have varied backgrounds—some professionals come directly from publishing houses or literary agencies, others are relatively new to the industry, but they’ve learned rather quickly, others, like me, have trudged around in the industry muck experiencing it from an author’s point of view for over 35 years.
While we all might offer different messages—we’re rather adamant on certain things—most of us agree on some important points. For example, you must have some money designated toward your publishing project. You’ll need it for a good book editor. PLEASE, don’t turn your manuscript over to a retired professor, your son’s English teacher or a coworker of a friend who is “good with words and spelling.”
In fact, plan to run your manuscript by your book editor of choice twice, especially if there is quite a bit of rewriting after the first edit. Plan to spend anywhere from $800 to $3,500. In some cases, more.
You might need money in order to get your book published. Hundreds of authors, each year, self-publish and countless others go with pay-to-publish companies. By the way, Ron Pramschufer just came out with a new FREE ebook called, Publishing Basics, Navigating the Self Publishing Minefield. Check it out. I haven’t read it yet, but I believe that Ron has the same mindset as I do with regard to self-publishing. We’d rather see you self-publish (establish your own publishing company) than to turn your book over to a pay-to-publish company.
http://www.selfpublishing.com
Also be sure to read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. It will help you to sort through your options and make the right decision for you and your particular book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Here are a few other things that publishing professionals generally agree on:
• Publishing is a business and should be approached as such from the moment you decide you want to become a published author.
• It is imperative that you know something about the publishing industry before making any decisions. In other words, study the publishing industry before getting involved.
• You’ll have a more positive and possibly successful experience if you make decisions based on knowledge rather than emotion. You may love your book and are eager to see it in print, but this doesn’t mean that publishing it is a good business decision for you.
• Authors who expect to sell copies of their books outside of their circle of family and friends MUST be willing to promote their books.
• Your book will sell for as long as you are willing to promote it.
• There is an exercise that, if seriously pursued, will help authors determine whether or not they have a viable product. This exercise also shows authors how to create a more viable product. This exercise is called “writing a book proposal.”
The truth that most professionals understand is that not every author is cut out for the world of publishing and not every book is a viable product. (The pay-to-publish people don’t seem to have learned this, yet—or don’t care.) We see hundreds of authors fail every year. The rate of failure used to be 76 percent. Now it is being quoted at 79 percent. I was pretty sure that this figure was rising with the influx of authors who enter into publishing with crummy books, and who have the freedom to publish even if they aren’t ready, educated about the publishing industry or able to understand the difference between a good book and a bad one. (The failure rate is determined by the number of books sold—I believe that 79 percent of books sold less than 100 copies in 2004—when this statistic was documented. And I imagine that now, in 2010, the rate is even higher.)
Professionals work diligently to educate authors and the good news is that there are also more excellent books being produced and there are more savvy authors entering into the world of publishing.
For those of you who are new to publishing, don’t avoid these publishing professionals. Read what they write. Visit their blogs often. Listen to their teleseminars and attend their workshops. Ask them questions. Follow their recommendations, hire a good book editor, write a book proposal and you may be one of the 21 percent who sell anywhere from 1,000 books per year to 100,000.
Contact me with your questions and concerns. I also do editorial manuscript evaluations. PLFry620@yahoo.com.