3. Dealing with publishers

There is no ‘correct’ way to get published. There is no ‘formula for success’ – if there were, we’d all use it and we’d all be rich and famous authors, wouldn’t we?

Yes, there are traditional approaches to publishing, but it’s clear that things in the publishing industry are changing quickly. There is much more access and opportunity for first-time authors than ever before, but the routes in are less prescribed, obvious and signposted than they once were. In some ways publishing is more democratic than previously, but in other ways it’s more of an ugly fight. You will hear of first-timers becoming an overnight success, you will hear of first-timers being ripped off by unprincipled vanity publishers.

For what it’s worth, here is my experience. Here is what I know…

The traditional approach to getting published is to send the first three chapters of your novel, a synopsis and a covering letter to a load of publishers. To find a complete list of publishers, you should consult the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook (click on the ‘UK publishers and agents’ link to the right). Alternatively, if you just want publishers of fantasy, check the listing I’ve done on this site, complete with notes. Unfortunately, most of the major publishers nowadays don’t accept ‘unsolicited’ manuscripts because otherwise they get inundated with thousands of manuscripts a week. There are a few exceptions in the scifi/fantasy genre, however, which include TOR Books, DAW, Wizards of the Coast (they have an ‘Open Submission’ for a few months each year) Headline, the PanMacmillan New Writing scheme (http://www.panmacmillan.com/features/displaypage.asp?pagetitle=macmillan%20new%20writing%20submissions%20information) and the HarperCollins Authonomy website (http://www.authonomy.com).
What the publishers have (cleverly) done is shift all the work of sifting through manuscripts to literary agents. Most publishers now only accept new submissions from literary agents. Any others that you find are likely to be either ‘small presses’ (such as NewCon Press, Telos, Screaming Dreams, TTA Press and Subterranean Press for scifi/fantasy), self-publishing organisations or dodgy outfits.
The question then becomes ‘How do I get an agent?’ Again, check out the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. You’ll find that agents (like publishers) specialise in particular genres. You should send your three chapters (etc) to all those who specialise in your genre. But don’t expect an answer quickly cos they get hundreds a week. If you’re a first time author, your chances of getting noticed are remote indeed. So what else can you try? Well…
To quote the central sci-fi buyer for Waterstone’s: ‘”Publish-on-demand” and “self-published” are no longer dirty words in publishing.’ If you’re a first-timer, definitely consider the publish-on-demand (POD) option. What does that mean? Well, basically, there are loads of online businesses (e.g. Lulu) who will host your book, allow online customers to make an online payment and then send them a bound copy of your book. The online business will either charge you for editing and hosting your book or take a good chunk of every customer payment (and sometimes they will do both).
The question might then be ‘Which POD publisher should I choose?’ Well, it depends what you want to achieve. If you just want to sell a few dozen copies to friends and family, then go with the cheapest you can find. If you want to get your book into book stores, you need to find a POD publisher who can offer that sort of distribution and will organise ISBNs for your titles. They will of course charge you for that sort of thing. One such POD publisher is Authorhouse, who will give you a number of Waterstone’s and Borders prepared to have hard copies of your book on their shelves. Added to that, they will get you on every book-buying website going.
Okay, so you’ve got your novel on loads of websites and in the odd book store. What do you do then? How do you ‘go national’? What you have to do is start phoning round book stores (asking for the store buyer for your genre or the manager) and saying, ‘Hi, I’m an author. My latest novel is on your website, it’s in your store in such-and-such-a-place, I’m local and I’m available to do book signings’.
Store managers will then start asking where they should order the book from. You need to be ready with the answer to that question. You need to quote an ISBN for your titles first of all. Then, you either need to give your publisher’s details or you need to know whether your publisher distributes through Gardner’s, Betram’s or Ingram’s. (Best not to get into a situation where you’re supplying stores yourself – unless it’s for a big signing or something.)
Make sure you start with local stores – they’re always more inclined to take a risk on you cos they know your friends and family will come in to buy the book (and the local press are always happy to publicise such a signing). When you’ve had a bit of success with such stores, you can then start targeting stores in bigger cities and saying, ‘My latest novel is on your website, it’s in this-many-of-your-stores-across-the-country, and I’m available to do book signings.’
Once you’re in more than a dozen stores of any book chain (start with Waterstone’s (wouldn’t bother with WHSmith)), you’re then ready to get onto their national/central buyers to see if they’ll agree to a central order.
Once you’ve sold 1000 copies of your book (or around 100 copies a month are being sold), you’ll find that most major publishers and agents are suddenly interested in you – simply because they can make money out of you. Why 1000 copies? It’s simply the unwritten rule of the publishing industry. It’s the point at which a book begins to cover all of its costs and move into profit. Then, boys and girls, you’re ready for the big time. Try and get the holy grail of writing: a three-book-deal contract.
Consider attending a national scifi/fantasy conference, as you can network with agents, publishers, authors, fellow-enthusiasts, merchandisers and so on. You will get the opportunity to pitch to the odd agent and publisher, so go armed with samples of your books, business cards and a well-rehearsed sales pitch…oh, and a pen. Where to start? Well, for scifi you need to attend Easter Con and for fantasy you need to get to FantasyCon. Try to enjoy yourself.
If you’ve read as far as here, you will probably be thinking, ‘What about e-books, Amazon’s Kindle device and the Sony e-reader?’ Yes, they allow aspiring authors to publish online directly (direct publishing). If you have the technical savvy to get your work onto one of these platforms (or the funds to pay someone to get the work up there for you), you can generate income and sales stats relatively easily. Be warned, though, that direct publishing doesn’t really sort you out with ISBNs and hard copies. Still, with good e-sales stats, major publishers might be interested in publishing your work in hard copy, etc. Treat this approach as just one tactic, however. I would recommend trying the more traditional ones as well.

Is all of that really possible? Yes. It’s exactly how I did it. And I now have a global three-book deal with Gollancz…

Be warned: it’s not at all glamorous. Giving up umpteen Saturdays to do book signings, only making enough on the books to cover your train fare and coffee, learning to sell your book to people who don’t want to buy it – very little of that is fun. But every copy gets you closer to that 1000. And then you do get to meet some lovely people who really enjoy your book. You might even get fan mail. You see your book on a shelf. Your mum’s proud. It’s a great feeling walking away from a book store having sold out all 30 copies that they’d ordered in for your signing. And then (and this is the bottom line), any author will tell you that they don’t do it for either the fame or fortune. They do it because it’s a calling. They do it because it’s in their blood. They do it because they have to.

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