How the Sausage Gets Made
I’ve wrapped up both Fantasy Writer’s Week Conference and the Women In Publishing Summit, and finished reading Stephen King’s On Writing. My mind is swimming with tons of great information, which I tried my best to absorb like a sponge. Some of it I knew already, a lot was new. I found the Women In Publishing Summit the most helpful of the three. Unsurprisingly, it focused on publishing instead of writing; something I knew little about. It’s also not relevant to me yet, but it got my wheels turning. By the time I attend the same conference next year, I want to have transitioned from “I don’t know what I don’t know”, to being knowledgeable enough to ask questions. I hope to be ready to publish my first manuscript by this time next year, or at least be going through professional edits. Here’s what I learned about the process from draft to published book:
The Writing/Editing Process
Write first draft
Self-edit, write new draft, repeat as necessary
Beta readers: not professionals, just fans of the genre who will read your manuscript and say “I liked this part, but this didn’t work for me” or “I don’t understand character X’s motivation at this part”, etc.
Edit, based on feedback from beta readers
Developmental editor: a paid professional who will read your book and do the same thing as the beta readers, but with a more fine-toothed comb, looking for plot holes or missteps in the character arc, pacing, etc.
Edit, based on feedback from developmental editor
Copy editor: a paid professional who will fix grammar mistakes, make sure everything is in the proper style and voice, etc.
Edit
Formatting: paid or DIY, but this is essentially picking what size your book will be when printed, then making sure the layout works.
Book cover artist: a paid professional who works with the author (if self-publishing) to bring your story to life through art. The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” applies to everything EXCEPT books. All the folks in the industry say a lackluster cover will tank your sales.
Proofreader: a paid professional who makes sure your formatting is correct before it goes to print (especially important if you DIY’d the formatting).
Final (minor) edit. Go to publish.
Two Routes to Publishing:
Traditional Publishing: If an author wants to be traditionally published, they have to have an agent. There are only five mainstream book publishers in the industry, and they don’t take submissions from un-agented authors. But if you get a book deal from one of the “Big 5”, they will pay for the entire process and team of professionals it takes to bring the manuscript through the editing and publishing process. They can get your book into the big stores like Barnes & Noble, or airports, or whatever. They will also plan the book launch and book events for the author. BUT they also get to decide the book cover without input from the author, they decide how long the book will be available on shelves (often three years or fewer), and they keep some money from book sales. They also give the author deadlines for future manuscripts. Also, getting accepted by one of the Big 5 is difficult, because the market is already saturated. Sometimes it takes over a year from the time an agent submits a query to when the author finds out they didn’t make the cut.
Independent Publishing / Self Publishing: You don’t need an agent, but you have to pay for everything yourself. The up front cost of the editing, the artwork, the marketing, etc. is steep. But the author has full creative control on everything. Independently published books can still get into the big stores, it’s just a lot harder to do. The author gets to keep a bigger share of the money from book sales (they still have to share with the publisher and retailer). 20% of people who go the indie publishing route never sell a single book…it’s all about how much of yourself you can pour into the marketing. As stated above, the market is saturated. Books that are in multiple formats (e-book, audiobook, paperback, hardback) sell more copies…but all of those different formats cost money. E-books have the greatest return for authors. Most indie authors will say the more books you have, the better your sales will be. Hardly anyone wants to invest in an author that only has one book for sale.
This shit ain’t easy. Lots of pros and cons to both. It seems many authors these days follow this path: query with traditional publishers, hope for a book deal, and then when they get rejected, go ahead and independently publish. Other than up front cost, there’s no downside to indie publishing. Doing so doesn’t prevent an author from being picked up by a traditional publisher down the road. There is a third option, which is going for a small publishing house outside of the Big 5. But I don’t know enough about that route yet to weigh the pros and cons.
Being self-published used to carry a big stigma in the writing industry. Self-published books were known for being of terrible quality (grammatical errors, amateur book covers, etc.). That is not the case anymore. There still are plenty of terrible independently published books, but the bigger share of them are now impossible to distinguish from books that are traditionally published, because serious indie authors these days hire professionals and go through the steps above. You’ve probably even read an independently published book in the last few years and didn’t even realize it.
(As a complete aside, check out this amazing article/videos about how books are printed!)
Because of the explosion of self-publishing, it’s easier than ever to have a book on the market, but “making it” as an author is harder than ever. Over FOUR MILLION books were published last year. That doesn’t even include books already on the shelves and the classics from previous years. But despite the proliferation of books available, the book sales have remained stable. That means the competition is steep. Being a full-time author these days means either an author is extremely prolific, they got a lucky break, or they’re doing some related side-hustle like being an influencer with a huge following. (Harsh truth: even having a book deal with a Big 5 publisher doesn’t necessarily mean an author is making enough to write full time)
All of this is extremely daunting to me, someone who’s just excited to be writing and hopes to share my stories with the world someday. So here’s a quotation that helps me put things in perspective:
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.” - Stephen King, On Writing
I don’t have to be a full-time author someday to be successful. I am writing to enrich my life. It’s working. That’s what matters. Maybe someday, my writing will enrich the lives of others, even if it’s just a handful of others. That’s what I need to keep my sights focused on.
