How Publishing Works In 2017

How Publishing Works: A basic guide for people who have no idea, are just starting out or who need a link to give one of the former two.

I have written one of these before, but the industry has changed since then. So this is my official late 2017 guide. So, let begin at the beginning and work our way through until the end. There are going to be some hard truths in here, but that is because there are a lot of predators looking for naïve writers to prey on. Don’t be one of those.

Do I have to write the novel first?

Yes, in most cases, you have to write the novel first. Very rarely some legitimate and niche publishers will buy on spec, with sample chapters and a synopsis. Carina Press, an imprint of Harlequin, does it occasionally. However this is mostly for established authors and even if you are a new author, if you are offered a contract for an unfinished manuscript, you would probably be better rejecting the offer. You are going to underestimate how much work and time it requires and the stress of trying to complete it will kill you.

Once you have written a complete manuscript and edited it until you can’t possibly make it any better yourself, I strongly advise you find an online or in-person writers group and seek critique. It’s a good idea to go to a few meetings first and see what sort of critique they give each other first. You are looking for a group that is both supportive, and constructive. If all they do is praise one and other, you’re not going to learn anything or improve.

Your first novel probably won’t sell.

By all means, try. However, to be honest, your first novel is probably terrible and it’s better to take everything you learned writing it and do it again. Sometimes it will take 3-12 novels before you write something that’s really up to scratch.

What I am saying is, it’s going to take a long time, probably a number of years, before you can really get started in a writing career. If you aren’t willing to take that time, spare yourself the pain and effort and find a different career. Keep writing as a hobby.

You don’t need a publisher, but it’s a really good idea.

Self publishing is a valid and fantastic option for some people. However 99% of people who attempt self publishing never make more than $500 from it. Ever. In their entire career. You need  three things to be successful in self publishing:

1. You need to be able to write to the same quality as popular published authors.

2. You need to be skilled in business and marketing—if you don’t already have a degree or career in this, you probably don’t have what it takes.

3. Luck.

Most people who are successful with self publishing are people who were already published traditionally for a number of years first. The reason is they already have 1) high quality writing skills, 2) a fan base of people who want to buy their books and 3) a good idea of how the industry works.

If you have whacky ideas that traditional publishers won’t touch, my advice is to write some more mainstream stuff first. Get that published traditionally, get 5-10 years experience that way, then bring out those whacky books again and self publish them when you know what you’re doing.

I do know a few authors who have self published without experience, slowly and painfully built their readership, then been offered traditional publishing contracts. They all jumped on them like starving dogs. Why? Because self publishing is REALLY HARD WORK and requires more than full time hours a week to make successful and those authors just desperately wanted time to sleep and write instead of promoting and editing and doing all the other fantastic things publishers do.

The simple truth is, in most cases, if publishers don’t want your book, it’s because it not very good.

Good Publishers VS Scammers

I already said there are a lot of people out there, making a living scamming writers. There are so many scams, with new ones cropping up all the time, it would be impossible for me to cover them all. So I will talk about some of them more popular ones and tell you how proper, non scammy publishing is done.

Firstly, a traditional, legitimate publisher won’t contact you. Not unless you are selling thousands of books and making headlines in major papers. So if you have self published and someone contacts you claiming to be a publisher or a book marketer, they are probably a scam. Legitimate publishers and talented PR agencies have too many clients already to go looking for new ones.

If you want to find a traditional publisher, you look them up, go to their website and find their submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. It will usually take 2-12 months before you hear back from them. Publishing is a slow business. Rejections can come very fast though, sometimes within an hour. You will need a query letter, a partial and a complete and edited manuscript ready before you approach publishers.

The best way to tell if a publisher is legitimate, is to look at what books they are publishing. (If you suspect they are a scam, double check on Amazon that they are the listed publisher.) If you haven’t heard of any of their authors or if their covers look unprofessional, it’s a bad sign. It’s not worth working with those people. When choosing which publishers to submit to, I suggest looking in the bookstore for books similar to yours and checking who published them. However I strongly advise you familiarise yourself with publishers, who is publishing what, and keep up to date with industry news. There are hundreds of fantastic resources online.

Stay away from publishers who ask you for money. Money flows to the author. Some publishers hold competitions which have a good reputation. It may be worth entering those if you are certain it is a legitimate and respected competition. But a competition is not the same as querying a publisher. A competition is not the usual way you would approach a publisher. And legitimate publishers won’t ask you to pay a reading fee, editing fee or ask you to pay for your own cover art, etc.

There is a scam that is quite popular where someone offers $10-$500 for your book. They then retain the copyright of the book and you receive no royalties. They are usually romance/erotica titles or nonfiction, how to books. Technically this is not a ‘scam’ as they aren’t lying to you. However it’s not how publishing works. If you get millions of dollars from a traditional publisher, you still retain the copyright. They just have the right to publish the book on your behalf and take a share of the money. If someone buys the copyright (at a tiny fraction of the value, mind you) they package it, put their name on it and keep making money off it forever and you have no say in what happens to it. You sold your copyright.

Sometimes, ghost writers and writers for specific franchises will sell the copyright. They will usually get paid a lot of money, or continue to receive royalties, even if their name is no longer on the work. These are special cases and you can’t build a career as a ghostwriter, in the sense that no one will know your name.

Familiarise yourself with publishing contracts from mainstream publishing houses and don’t sign anything that gives away rights you should be keeping.

Self Publishing Notes

Now, while I said money should always flow to the author, this is not true if you self publish. Because if you self publish, you are no longer an author. You are a publisher. Which means you have dozens of costs up front before you see a dime of money.

You need to pay for a professional editor, you need to pay for professional cover design, you need to pay for professional formatting and you need to pay for promotion. If you want physical books as well as e-books, you’ll need to pay for printing too.

All of these are expensive, and none of them you can afford to skimp on. These are all ‘you get what you pay for’ skills. Don’t even consider asking someone to ‘do the work now and get paid when the money comes in’. You’re self publishing. They know the money is never going to come in. They’re not going to take the chance you’re one of the 0.1% who make any money off it. Because even if you are one of the 0.1% that make money off it, you aren’t going to start making that money for a year or so, and they have bills now.

Do You Need An Agent?

Short answer? It depends. If you’re really struggling to understand contract jargon, yes you need an agent. You don’t have to sign with an agent to use them, however. There are agents out there who will negotiate your contract on your behalf for an hourly rate. It’s expensive—think good lawyer expensive.

Some bigger publishers will only consider manuscripts that are brought to them by an agent. So if you want to get in the door at really big places, then yes, you need an agent.

Agents can also help you with your career plan and give you good advice. Publishers are always in it to make as much money as possible. They are not your friend. Even if you have a fantastic relationship with your editor at a publishing house, they are not on your side when it comes to the best interests of you and the publisher. They are always going to pick the publisher. And that is fine, that’s their job.

I love my editors. They are fantastic people. I trust their judgement and I work very close with them. But I know they are not going to argue with their boss to get me higher royalties or suggest I go to a different publisher if the head of the department has stuck me on the backburner. IT’S NOT THEIR JOB TO DO THAT. An agent however, will.

In Summary:

1. Complete a manuscript.

2. Edit it.

3. Get feedback from peers (not family or friends). Apply feedback.

4. Decide if you need an agent.

5. Research where to submit.

6. Query legitimate agents and publishers following the guidelines on the website. This will require some combination of: a query letter, a partial and a complete manuscript.

7. Go back to step one and repeat in correct order until you are published.

Networking

Let’s talk about networking. If you just groaned or felt queasy, this post is for you.

If you hate the idea of networking, then you’re probably wrong about what networking actually means. Maybe you think networking is about being insincere or using people. Maybe you have a mental image of walking into a room of strangers and pushing yourself and your product.

Don’t do that.

No one likes those people, that’s awful.

What is Networking?

Networking is actually quite simple and not intimidating at all. Basically, networking is introducing yourself to people, then being nice to them. Not in a fake way, in a genuine way. Say hello to people, then be nice. If either of those things strike you as overly difficult, you might need to sit down and have a think about why that is.

You’re not aiming to use people, or sell your product. You’re just getting to know people in your industry and giving them a chance to get to know you. It’s different from a friendship, in that you don’t talk about personal issues or come to these people for support when you get dumped. However, you should still be friendly.

What is the goal of networking?

The goal is mutual benefit. Mutual being the key word. Simply having a familiarity with the industry and people in it is usually beneficial in itself. If someone says to me “Do you know Kirstie Olley, she’s the president of vision writers?” I will say: “Yes, I am vice president, Kirstie and I go way back.” Instantly, that shared familiar contact will make the other person feel safer and happier talking to me.

Like it or not, publishing is an industry of people who want to work with people they like. Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. But it does mean the more people like you, the more likely they will want to work with you, or recommend you to other people.

I got my first publishing contract with Harlequin hardly knowing anyone and none of my contacts helped me at all. However, everything since then—publishing contracts, speaking gigs, contract work of other kinds, has all come in through acquaintances and networking.

You don’t need to be friends with everyone, but it really, really helps.

Remember this is a two-way street. It’s up to you to speak highly of your acquaintances, and perhaps share their books, let them guest post when they are doing book tours and share opportunities you hear about and so on.

How do we network successfully?

If you’re shy about approaching people, remember you don’t have to approach everyone. Start small. Approach someone else who looks lonely and intimidated and say: “Hello, my name is Talitha.” And offer your hand. Depending on where you are and what the event is, you might say: ‘Are you here as a reader or a writer?’ or ‘How do you know the host?’. If appropriate, you can just start with a casual compliment: ‘I love those earrings’ or ‘I love your shirt, Wonder Woman is my favourite superhero’.

Only use a compliment if you know how to give one. For example, don’t say: “You’re really pretty.” Or “Wow, you’re the hottest boy/girl/banana here.” That’s not a compliment, that’s hitting on someone and its 99% likely to be annoying and rude.

Assuming you open the conversation with a sane, pleasant introduction, there should be a reasonable and polite conversation that is relevant to the event and the things around you.

However, networking is not about being overly agreeable. One of the key elements of networking is being memorable. That means being polite, but having standards and opinions. Don’t just agree with everyone for the sake of getting along, but don’t argue with someone either.

For example, if you are talking to someone and they say something racist, don’t get into a fight about it. Say something like: “I disagree, pardon me.” And just walk away. You want to show you have integrity and standards, you don’t want to make enemies.

Don’t trash things or people others love either. If someone is raving about something you find annoying, like a TV show, simply say: “Oh, I have friends who like it, but I never really got into it.” This is good, because it says, ‘we can still be friends, even if we don’t both love Gossip Girl.’

And I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t put people down if they are less experienced than you. Someone just had their first short story published? Celebrate that with them. Buy them a drink, tell them congratulations. They deserve it.

Who should I network with?

You know who we all want to be friends with? Our favourite authors. However, these are not the people to network with. As a general rule, I say network with everyone. You never know who is going to suddenly rise to the top, so don’t dismiss people who are ‘less known’ than you. Firstly, it makes you an asshole and secondly, it’s stupid.

Also, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started talking to someone who looked lost and daggy at a cocktail event or morning tea and found out they are some super important guest speaker. I’ve also make friends with people who are still in uni, only to have them graduate and become acquisitions editors at major publishing houses. People I spent a few years giving feedback to have become massively popular authors.

Your peers are the next round of big names and the big names already have lots of people trying to network with them. They aren’t going to be grateful if you share their new release, but a first-time author will be and they’ll remember you when you’re trying to sell your manuscript.

Most of the people I network with will never be famous authors or big name editors. But even if I could see the future, it wouldn’t change who I talked to, because I genuinely enjoy talking to everyone. I’ve never gone in thinking: ‘I want to make friends with an acquisition editor’. I go in thinking: ‘I want to meet some new people and make a good impression, I want to have a good time with these people’.

The enemy of my enemy…

I don’t love everyone. There are a few people I see regularly at conventions that I politely avoid. I would never bad-mouth them. Bad-mouthing anyone is pretty much social suicide in such a small, friendly community like Australian publishing. And while most people generally like me, I am sure there are a few people who politely avoid me too. That’s fine, I really don’t mind at all. I’m sorry about whatever I did to offend them, but I’m not losing sleep.

Approach networking with the aim of being genuine and having a good time. But remember everyone else should be having a good time too.

Don’t say: “Well, I am who I am and if people don’t like it, they can shove off.” You sound like a child. You’re that kid on the floor in the supermarket screaming because his mother won’t buy chocolate. This is a public space, show some goddamn restraint.

And if you are one of those people who feels like they are being deceptive or worries other people are judging them, you need to let that go. You’re not being deceptive, as long as you are genuine. Other people are networking for the same reason. You’re not a phoney or pretending to be something you’re not. We’re all in the same boat and most of us are bailing out the same water with the same leaking buckets.

Someone might be more experienced than you, but no one is inherently ‘better’ than you because of it.

Final tip:

Oh, and the best networking tip of all? Easily accessible business cards.

Get nice cards printed and keep them in your pocket or the easiest part to get to of your purse. When you are saying goodbye to someone, say: “It was nice talking to you, do you have a business card? Do you want mine?”

This will help you remember who you spoke to and remind you to add them on twitter or facebook later on.

Business cards, never leave home without them, folks.

I hope this has given you a clearer idea of what networking is, why we do it and how to go about it. If you have further questions, please email them to me and I’ll address them in future blog posts. I look forward to networking with you soon!