What do you say, as a published author, when friends and strangers ask you to “hook them up” with a publisher? I can’t be the only person hearing this, in an industry where there are more good, unpublished writers, than published. People do what they can to get ahead. It’s just good business; you truly have to be your own advocate.
But, there are plenty of misconceptions about how this works. And if you’re not careful, you’ll offend a lot of people who’ll just assume that you’re holding out.
My responses are so similar whenever I reply to such inquiries, that I should probably write a form letter, to use. (But I hate form letters — good to change them a bit here and there, at least.) But feel free to borrow as much of this as you find useful.
If I had a form letter, it would look something like this:
Dear (wonderful person),
Thanks for thinking of us, it’s good to hear from you. I’m glad to hear you are ready to find a publisher for your book. I would gladly assist you in this, if it were in my power to do so. However, it is not. I can give you a little insight into how this works for us, and where you might begin.
First you want to decide what your objective is. If you are writing to see it in print, and so your friends can order it, and don’t want the hassle of dealing with agents and publishers, there’s Amazon, where you can have your manuscript up immediately at no cost. And there are plenty of self publishing firms out there, now. I am not familiar with them, and can’t make a recommendation, but Google should be of some help. Read the reviews, though.
As for us, Allan [my husband] and I have different situations. Whenever Allan writes a book, it’s because someone else had the idea — a publisher or The New York Times, where he works, or someone’s rich Uncle — and contacts him, asking him to write it. He never has to worry about all the paperwork that an agent generally handles, and simply agrees to terms (a fee, an advance, word count, etc.) and writes it. It’s not usually the same entity twice, and Allan is never in the position of trying to market his work.
I, on the other hand, write a variety of genres, and therefore, try to carefully select a good publisher for a particular manuscript. Then I query. There’s no magic button.
Here’s my advice for anyone just getting started: Buy a current Writer’s Market, from Writer’s Digest Books. This is not a sales pitch, they don’t even know I exist. But it is the holy bible of freelancing — the nuts and bolts of getting published. It contains publisher listings, that tell you what different publishing houses are looking for, contact information and submission guidelines. It gives details, like how much they pay per word and how many titles they publish a year.
In addition to submission information, it explains how it all works, warns you of common pitfalls and even tells you how to format a manuscript or find an agent.
From there, just remember to keep writing, be objective if you want useful feedback, and don’t take “no” personally. Some of the best writers out there could wallpaper a small room with their rejection slips.
Then find a writer’s group in your community or online and keep applying what you learn. It’s the kind of thing you figure out as you go.
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Of course, even having taken the time to bother responding, there will be people who have watched too many movies and picture you in sunglasses by the pool, sipping a drink with an umbrella in it, while your servants bring you bags of money and fan mail by the hour, while you laugh an evil, knowing you could have helped them, but didn’t.
But there’s nothing you can do about that. Smile and carry on.
MINDBENDERS 