Dear Writer by Ms Paige Turner – Blog 146
I recently received an email from a writer who said they had been offered a publishing contract for their children’s book but on receiving the contract realised they had to pay for the privilege. What, she asked, should she do? Here was my reply:
Dear Writer,
Firstly let me congratulate you on completing your book. Many people dream of writing one and for most, that’s what it will always be: a dream.
To answer some of the queries you raised in your email to me.
1. If a publisher is asking you for money to publish your book then this is self-publishing. There is nothing wrong with self- publishing but you do need to have time, money and energy to promote your book as publishers working in this way rarely give as much air time to your book as is necessary to make money from it. They have made the money from you. Traditional publishers and agents need to make money from the sales of your book so they need to know your book is going to, well, sell.
2. The books that don’t slip from the agents’ and publishers’ desks are those which have first been read by the intern sitting in the corner of the office knee deep in the slush pile. These interns read first pages. You need to get your intern turning your page. How do you do this?
a) You draft, re-draft, edit, re-draft. Books which get past the intern’s knees have been re-written several times. I bet your book is great. I bet the people you love and like, love and like your book. But remember, the agent and publisher are in the business of making money and they want to read something that is fully cooked. So if you’re not sure how to re-write, what do you do?
b) You submit your words to someone like me who has been reading, editing, proof-reading
and assessing for 30 years. (If you give me your wordage I will fix on a price.) Someone like me should give you an honest appraisal of your book and also clean up the grammatical errors you are not seeing.
c) If a book is really good I then suggest an onward journey to agents and publishers without any guarantee that it will be sold to these higher beings. But of course, I do know some of these higher beings as I’ve been around for some time. But I only make these suggestions to a writer if the final draft is good and as good as it can be.
Whatever you choose to do, dear writer, I wish you well. Writing is a wonderful trip but a lengthy one. Please keep me informed of yours.
I hope this helps.
Creative Ink Tuesdays ‘Get Inspired’ starting October 4th 10. 00 am until midday is full. Theme/Journeys.
Three places left on the ‘Get that Book’ course, 4000 words assessment and a one hour and bit consultation. (£120) Email me.
All good advice. I wouldn’t expect anything less, of course. I have often used the quote about the writing process that goes something like this, “Writing is easy. You just stare at a blank sheet of paper until blood appears on your forehead.”
At the top of a mountain, and on finding himself penless, Coleridge drew blood in order to write. There are easier ways to do this at Creative Ink.