Getting Published
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The Truth About Publishing – 16
PART 2. SURVIVING PUBLICATIONLesson 15: Is that all you’re printing?Your favourite author gets a 200,000 copy print run, but don’t even dream about doing the same. She’s spent 20 years building her name and sales. Besides, she got in first, and lots of other authors in your chosen genre have prospered since, and there’s relentless competition from hundreds of thousands…
My Tortuous Road to Publication
I’m not sure exactly when I had the idea of writing a fantasy novel, though it must have been sometime after July 1977, because that’s when I bought and read Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara.It wasn’t the story that inspired me, though. I’d read a huge amount of fantasy by then and found the plot to be too close to The…
My Tortuous Path to Publication
I’m not sure exactly when I had the idea of writing a fantasy novel, though it must have been sometime after July 1977, because that’s when I bought and read Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara.It wasn’t the story that inspired me, though. I’d read a huge amount of fantasy by then and found the plot to be too close…
The Truth About Publishing – 15
Lesson 14: Putting your money where your manuscript isDespite what the hucksters say, it’s better for a publisher to publish your novel than for you to do it yourself. Why? Because publishers have a vast knowledge of the market and what it takes to succeed in it. You don’t, and this knowledge of book editing, cover design, placement and marketing…
The Truth About Publishing – 14
Lesson 13: You’re not published until you’re in print (and sometimes not even then)Deals fall over for all sorts of reasons, so don’t count your chickens until they’re roosting in a thousand bookshops. Here are some of the most common deal breakers, all of which have happened to writers I know or have heard about:There was a ‘misunderstanding’ when the…