Don't Just Settle On Anyone Just To Say You Are Published

I get it! Publishing is a tough business. There are a lot of you and a limited number of places on the book shelves out there. Although the market is starting to pick up. Look at some of the numbers.

In the U.S. print book sales totaled $782 million in 2924 which was a 23% increase over the past decade. 

Predictions show even more growth.

And yet, so many writers today are complaining about how hard it is to get published. They write their book, send it to editors and agents only to be rejected, or more likely, don't hear anything at all. Talk about frustrating. 

Now, if you have been here on the blog, or heard me talk before on my other platforms, I have stated that there could be any number of reasons for this - you sent it to the wrong person, bad timing, not marketable, and yes, your writing could be bad. The list is endless. It could even be that this is your first book are you are simply impatient. 

Impatience is really a mark of many in the present generation. We are living in the "we want it now" generation and publishing is no different. So, if they can't get published, often they will jump to anyone who will take their writing. 

And it is here where I want you to ask yourself, do you really want to do this? Sending your writing out to anyone, just to say your are published, might not be the best option. Do you really want this product out there for the world to see and say "this represents who I am?"

I am sorry, but I look out there and I see a lot of authors who have, for lack of a better word, slapped on some pretty hideous covers on their books "just to be published." And I don't know about you, but looking at the cover, it just is not that appealing. 

At Greyhaus, I openly state that I am looking for "traditional print romance and women's fiction authors." Note the word PRINT. I am pretty picky about what I am looking for. Now, does this mean I will ignore digital presses? No. But I WILL NOT just toss my authors book out to anyone just to let they be able to say they are published. They worked to damn hard on that book. They love their baby. I love their writing. I believe in their writing and that writing DESERVES the best. 

Doesn't your writing deserve the best too?

Are You Just Copying A Storyline Or Building On A Trope

Writers are often told to by editors "read what we publish". The purpose is really simple. To understand the voice of the line. To understand the tropes and the style of the writing. Unfortunately, too often, writers hear this and end up taking this to an extreme when they write their own stories. What do they do? They make carbon copies of the books already out there.

And what happens?

They get rejected! Ugh! Ugh! And double Ugh!

"But Scott, they told us to read what they publish!" 

Yes they did, but did you hear what I said up there in the first paragraph? They want you to look to the style of the writing and the voice. They want you to see if you can follow some of those smaller ideas and nuances. It does not mean to take the same plot lines and just move the story to a different setting. And honestly, this is so important for those of you who want to write for publishers who have a clear "Series" or "Category" line.

Many publishers out there have dedicated lines that follow a unique pattern. Obviously Harlequin stands out as well as Entangled and Wild Rose Press. But others out there are doing the same thing. They have found they can draw in a group of readers who love to stick to that line, which is awesome for sales. You get hooked there and then get drawn in for the other books at that publisher. 

Now, this is what I often see. Let's say, for example, that someone wants to write for Harlequin Presents. They see a word count that is short. They see hot rich guys, often royalty or filthy rich CEO's and then there is a sudden pregnancy. So they write the same dang story. Now, when an editor (or an agent like me) reads the story, we have the "been there done it" approach. Give us something new! We already have people who are in those niches.

Remember, the idea of a trope is to use it as PART of the story, not the whole story. The idea is to figure out how the story "READS". Follow the flow of it, the rhythm of it, the style of the writing. Then, toss in maybe one trope but add in your own flare to make it unique.

Doing that might get you noticed faster!

When Do You Throw In The Towel On A Manuscript

At what point do you say, well, this book is going no where? What I am talking about here is when you have been sending that book out to agents and editors and getting rejections left and right. What do you do? What is the next step?

Ok, I know a lot of you will start to dive into the social media urban myths of how many times supposedly all of your favorite authors got rejected. I always love to hear these stories by random authors at conferences. The numbers reach in the triple digits. But who cares about them, what about you?

Probably some of you have been revising that darn manuscript every time you got a rejection and trying again and again with still no forward progress. So now what? 

In today's world, here is what I am seeing many authors doing, and personally, IMHO, and yes it is a big IMHO it is a big mistake... they decide to self-publish the book. They take the "to hell with them approach" and I will prove them wrong direction. And here is why?

First of all, if people have been telling you no, they have been saying so for a reason. It is probably not marketable. It might be it is not right for the market. It might be the writing. It might be for any number of reasons. The key is, people have been giving you hints over and over again and you are not listening to them. Why aren't you taking a hint. Catch a clue!!!!!

Secondly, you are now putting your name on a product that is now out in public that is going to reflect poorly on you. Now, when you approach an editor or an agent with potentially a good project later, and we see what you have put out in the past, ugh! Not cool. You have now ruined your reputation. 

Next, I have talked about this before, but unless you are familiar with marketing and you know the costs that go into self-publishing, you might be spending a lot of money and getting nothing in return. This is one of those early chapters in Business 101 called COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS people. Go check it out!

Ok, so some other people will take another version of the self-publishing approach and try to hide it by starting their "own publishing company." Come up with a cool name, "Barking Dog Books" (Just came up with that one since Editor Benjamin and Editor Steve Rogers were barking at the Amazon Prime delivery driver outside) and make it look really good. Still, it is the same things so read the earlier paragraph.

So, let's try a third option... go back and try to edit the heck out of the story and "fix it". You'll make it all better and try to resubmit it. Hey, some of the people liked some of the story, right? You remember there were some people who sort of hinted that there were things they liked, right? 

Now you spend 3 months rewriting, reworking, retweaking that story. You change character names. You come up with new titles. You rewrite the synopsis. 

But do you want to know something? That is 3 months that will get you nowhere fast. That is 3 months that you could have spent moving on.

Honestly, the best bet is to just look at it. Say thank you for what you have learned from that writing exercise and put it int he bottom drawer of your desk. Put a big ribbon around it. Leave it there and move on. Think of it this way. Remember when your computer died and you took it to the computer guys and they say it is cheaper to buy a new computer than to fix it? 

Same thing here!

Besides, you can now take that manuscript to those conferences where you will be a keynote speaker after you are a New York Times Best Selling Author with that new manuscript and show them your first lesson learned as an encouragement for other new authors. 

Subjectivity Is A Thing In Publishing

Do you love all of the types of food that your friends like? Probably not. Any why is that? We all have different tastes, right? What about vacation locations? Restaurants? Outfits? You name it? We don't all like the same things? And the same goes for books. In the publishing world, it is all about subjectivity.

Yes, we are very much trying our best to be rational and looking that things objectively and whether or not a book is marketable, but let's be honest, we are all still human. We all have our own likes and dislikes. There are simply times when we read a proposal and something just doesn't click with us. It is that simple. Does it mean the book is not marketable? No. Does it mean the book is poorly written? No. It just means, it isn't right for us. 

This is part of the reason why I am always pushing for you as authors to take the time to truly research those editors and agents. Find out their likes and dislikes. Don't just see if they acquire your genre, check to see what it is about that genre that they like and hate. 

For example, let's talk about romance. Are they someone who likes the stories really spicy or are they someone who says, make it spicy but keep it not so graphic. Do they like Alpha males or just the subtly hot guys. Do they want the heroines to be damsels in distress or kick butt heroines?

How about tropes? Are there tropes they hate? Come on now people, how many times do I have to say, I am not a big fan of road trip tropes or "band" tropes to get it to sink it? And yet...

You can even see this by looking at sites such as Publishers Marketplace and seeing who editors and agents are signing. You will see a pattern really fast and figure it out. 

Again, we all try our best to not say, "ewwww, I personally don't like it" but hey, if I have to read this over and over again to edit it, you should want me to like it, right?