Writers -- you expect them to be the most literate, informed people on the planet. Yet editors are continually astonished by how little new writers bother to learn about the publishing industry before they send their work out. Writing is an art and a craft, but publishing is a business, and publishers expect writers to approach them in a professional, business-like manner. This means that writers must know the rules of the road before they begin. Let's start with some of the common myths that one finds floating around that have the potential of crippling your writing career before it even begins.
Myth #1: You must get a copyright to protect your work so editors don't steal it.
Fact: Under U.S. copyright laws, your work is protected as soon as it is in tangible form. You do not need to apply for and pay for an official copyright before you submit your work.
But should you do it anyway, just to be sure?
No. And here's why not.
Reason #1: If you are submitting to real editors at real publishing houses as you should be (not vanity presses or so-called "subsidy" presses), your manuscript will be just one of thousands of hopefuls in a staggeringly-high slush pile. Ahead of your manuscript in the line are manuscripts that were pre-screened and submitted by agents (who also have staggeringly-high slush piles in their own offices). If an editor has that kind of overabundance of material on hand, what incentive is there to steal?
"But," you protest, "what if the editor decides to publish my work under the name of a famous author so the publisher can make a lot of money?"
Think -- would that famous author really sit still for that? Of course not! Famous Author's lawyers would be all over any editor who tried to pass of someone else's work as that of Famous Author's. Nor is Famous Author likely to form a conspiracy with an editor to steal someone's work and publish it under Famous Author's name. There are too many things that can go wrong, too many careers at risk. Possibly, maybe, under certain phases of the moon and alignments of the planets, this might happen in the music industry. Maybe. If you're submitting songs, get educated about the music industry and how copyrights work. If you're submitting novels and nonfiction, don't sweat it.
Reason #2: So you go ahead and shell out 20 bucks or so to get that copyright. You submit your manuscript. Editor takes a look at your manuscript. First impression: "Hmm. This author copyrighted the work. Doesn't trust me to know not to steal manuscripts. Pah! Amateur!" The reading starts off with a bad impression, and goes downhill from there.
Reason #3: It's 20 rejections later, and you're still shopping your manuscript around. Editor number 21 picks it up and sees the copyright date from ten or so years ago. "Man, this has been out for a long time. Must be a real loser." Again, the reading starts off with a bad impression, and back comes the manuscript with rejection number 21.
The only exception to this rule is if you are self-publishing. Then and only then do you need to purchase an official copyright. Everything you need to know about copyrights can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov/
Myth #2: You have to pay a lot to get your book published.
Fact: You don't have to pay anything other than postage costs of mailing your manuscript to get it published. A legitimate publisher pays YOU the going industry rate for the various rights to publish your work. A literary agent gets paid a percentage only AFTER selling your book.
If an agent asks for "reading fees" or other fees other than itemized postage costs, the agent is likely a scam agent. If an agent can make money with reading fees, what incentive is there to actually sell your book?
If a publisher offers to publish your manuscript for a fee, that publisher is a subsidy publisher, known more commonly as a vanity publisher. Vanity publishers accept anything that comes at them. They are little more than a glorified printing service, with one important difference: the imprint on the book and the ownership of the ISBN number belong to them, not to you.
Why is that important? Because if you want your book to appear in real bricks-and-mortar bookstores, you don't want the imprint of a vanity publisher on them. Book distributors and buyers know who the vanity presses are and avoid them like the plague.
If you really want to self-publish, go with a good printing service, such as Books Just Books. Educate yourself about copyrights, ISBN numbers, bar codes, distribution services, marketing, and other business aspects of publishing. You need to know the business side, because when you self-publish, you are starting a business.
If you do not want to self-publish, avoid the siren calls of the "We'll Publish Your Book!" vanity press advertisements in the backs of magazines, polish your work until it gleams, then submit it to legitimate publishers, the ones listed in the Writer's Market.
Myth #3: If you want to break into publishing, start with writing for children. It's easy. Then move up to writing for adults.
Would all the children's writers out there stop howling with laughter? Thanks.
Fact: Breaking into the children's market is harder than breaking into the mainstream adult market, and breaking into the picture book market may be the hardest feat of all.
Part of the difficulty is that everybody and his uncle thinks writing for children is easy, so they dash off a cute little tale in Dr. Seuss rhyme about the fuzzy bunny who saved the day, throw in a heavy-handed moral, and send it off "to get published." Slush piles are knee-deep in these amateur offerings. When 95% or more of the slush pile is unpublishable scribbling, it's no wonder that the odds look so bad when you just look at the numbers.
But even for writers who know what they're doing, who study the market, who read children's books all the time, breaking in is hard. Editors are demanding. Children's books have to be concise. The author must choose words carefully for best effect.
Good writing is good writing. All editors demand good writing. Children's editors demand it even more, because their market is smaller, and adult buyers of children's books are more discriminating about the quality of those books. We're not just talking parents here, either. Teachers and librarians have a big influence over the children's book market, and you'd better believe they demand quality writing.
Myth #4: Once you've published your first book, your writing career is set. From then on, it's easy.
Fact: Would all the authors who have published one book but couldn't get the second published please raise their hands?
Thank you. From that forest of hands out there, it's easy to see that publishing your first book is not the equivalent of opening the golden door to the publishing industry. There's no free ticket to a glamorous life of autograph parties and spots on Oprah.
Sorry.
Myth #5: Getting published is easy once you know the "secret."
You'll hear this from people who have been "published" by vanity publishers (see Myth #2). Often they're pleased with the service -- but their pleasure comes primarily from seeing their writing between two covers and having a handful of sales. For hobbyists, maybe this is enough, provided they don't spend their retirement savings on publishing scams. You may also hear pitches like this from ebook software vendors who swear that you can write a bestselling ebook in seven days using their "secret" method and their software -- never mind that the ebook market is puny at best and the vast majority of books are still sold in book form through bricks-and-mortar bookstores.
Mostly you'll hear this from people who shop the bookstores and say, "Look at this! This is trash! Anyone could write better than this!"
True, there are some pretty poor books out there, and who can fathom the reason for their publication? Never mind the awful books based on cartoon characters or science fiction shows -- those are put together by book packagers and written by freelancers on a work-for-hire basis. They sell on the basis of the reputation of the television show, not the writing.
An editor's and a publisher's reputations rest on the sales for their books, and no publisher can afford to keep cranking out books with poor sales. What sells most books is good writing.
And there's more. Not only do you have to write the book, you also have to sell it to an editor. You have to write top-quality query letters, book synopses, proposals, and cover letters.
There are no shortcuts. No 10 easy steps. No magic tricks. You must be a good writer. You must know the market and the industry. You must write the best book you can. And you must persist. Those are the only secrets.
Karen E. Bledsoe is a children's book author, writing primarily nonfiction for the school and library market. For more information on writing for children, see her website at http://www.gkbledsoe.com
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