What Do Authors Want? Their Books to Be Published, Somehow!

 

Posing with my poetry book, Touched by Fire. I was thrilled when it was published!

This year has not been a good one for me author-wise so far. Not only did I receive the news that two publishers were shutting down, but books I was hoping to get out earlier in the year did not get released.

 

But like every good author, I’ve been picking myself up by my bootstraps and pressing onward.

 

The first thing I did was make a list of which one of my books was going out of print, and which publisher they were from. Up until then, I was able to keep this list in my head because there were only two books by two different publishers that were out of print. But recently, that number shot up to the double digits, so I had to write everything down.

 

Then I studied this list. After some thought, I selected which of my books would be self-published and which ones I would submit to a publisher who is willing to republish a previously published book. (I know of a few.) And I have been working on making that happen.

 

I have been posting about my ongoing quest to get my books back into print on social media. While I’ve been working on finding the right method to do so – such as getting books reformatted and either getting new or fixing up old covers for them – I have seen posts on social media from other authors way ahead of me in the game running into some problems. And it has really gotten me worried about running into those problems, too! Which is why I reached out to them to start a conversation on what sort of problems they were having and what’s being done to resolve these problems.

 

And while all of that has been going on, it has got me thinking about all of the things that we authors have done and are doing to get our books back into print.

 

See, when you’re a writer trying to get a book published, having a publisher accept your manuscript for publication is the best thing ever. Some of us are willing to sign with ANY publisher; a Big Five press, a small press, an independent publisher, or a hybrid publisher. Heck, even going through a POD service is not out of the picture – nor is self-publishing our books.

 

Whatever it takes to get a book published, that’s what we authors willing to make such concessions are willing to do!

 

Because then, our book will be published!

 

I know of one author who works with a publisher who doesn’t exactly do business as a publisher by the books, but he STILL publishes this author’s books and gets them out there. When I asked the author if he was okay with the way this publisher was doing business, he said he was just happy that his books are being published.

 

For many writers, that’s what they’re after. That’s the golden egg: Publication. And for many, they’re willing to get published no matter what it takes (well, outside of sacrificing their firstborn, of course).

 

Of course, some of us can only do so much to get our books published. There are many of us not willing or able to part with hundreds or thousands of dollars to get our books published. (Sadly, many authors are, and realize too late that they have been scammed.)

 

The reality is that there are many independent publishers out there willing to publish an author’s book without charging them an arm or a leg, but the author who is usually taken for a ride by a scammer is either not aware of them or they don’t do enough research into the many publishers that are out there. This isn’t to say that all of them are really gullible – scammers can be really good at what they do to get cold hard cash from a newbie author – but taking the time to really do some research on publishers is worth it if an author does not want to be scammed.

 

While I understand that many authors really want to get their book published, it’s not worth it if you get scammed. Do your research. I know that getting published is important, but getting scammed by a so-called “publisher” will really sour the experience of getting your book published if you’re out thousands of dollars in the process. (I recommend consulting Writer Beware and subscribing to WritersWeekly. The Horror Zine also maintains a list of reputable publishers.)

 

Aside from this unfortunate pitfall in an author’s quest to get published, today’s technological advances means there are unlimited possibilities for an author to get their books published. Even getting a book published as an audiobook is an option. Books can also be published as installments on sites such as Substack or even through blog posts. Podcasts may also be helpful for the author trying to find a way to get their book published. There are just so many choices available.

 

On the other hand, getting a book published digitally is not the same as having an actual book you can hold in your hands. Many authors prefer this, so they do what they can to make that happen. I strongly recommend that such authors proceed with caution and do their research to find a reputable publisher for this if they do not wish to self-publish their books.

 

Most authors are willing to snap up the best method of publication that works for them, even if some people feel it is not the right one. But as long as their book is published, or back in print, the author will be happy that they have accomplished that goal. And for such authors, that’s all that really matters.

Hurry Up and Wait

 

Photo Credit: MintMiller via Pixabay

 

 

I never really appreciated the expression “hurry up and wait” until I tackled an article deadline I had this week.

 

Usually, if I have a deadline for an article, I will get started working on it as soon as possible. This is true even if I have a whole month to turn it in. (When I wrote for newspapers, I normally had a week to write and submit my articles, so I pretty much got used to this schedule.) I will start gathering information, interviewing people if this is required, doing research, outlining my piece, pre-writing the article and basically doing everything required in order to create a final draft as I move closer to the deadline.

 

With the article I had due this week, however, things did not move as quickly as I wanted them to. I already had all of my information and interviews were done. I just needed to take everything I had for the article and put them into the actual article.

 

There was one problem, though. And it was a problem that, while many writers are happy to have, this writer struggled with: Information overload. My editor wanted an article of 600 words. I had thousands of words in the interviews conducted for this article. Thankfully, when I ended up reslanting my article (which I had to do based on the content of the interviews), I did not need to use too much of the material from my research.

 

The interviews, however, were important for the article, and there was a lot of content in those interviews.

 

As it was, I ended up taking a portion of the content from those interviews and asking my editor if it could be used as a sidebar.

 

But actually writing the article? That took some time. I was basically overwhelmed by all the material gleaned from the interviews and I had to figure out how I was going to break it all down into an article of less than one thousand words.

 

Still, after a check-in from my editor, I knew I would HAVE to get past that mental block I was having from the information overload and GET TO WORK.

 

So I worked on it here and there, taking it a little at a time.

 

This seemed to be the right approach, because I found that the more I worked on putting together this article, taking the writing of it in bits and pieces, the easier it was for me to get past that sense of overwhelm and focus on taking from those interviews exactly what I needed for this article. I figured that what I didn’t use for this article could be used in another article should I choose to pursue writing a different article on the same topic (with the interviewees’ agreement to have their quotes published in a certain publication). Or at least I have those quotes on hand should I ever need to use them for a related piece in the future.

 

Thankfully, I was able to complete the writing of my article with a satisfactory word count.

 

But I wasn’t ready to tackle editing and revising it just yet.

 

Even though I was having a good day that I wanted to share about on social media – FINALLY getting through that mental block to get that article written and FINALLY finding a home for a short story I spent almost six years submitting to various publications – I wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. Why? Because there was a lapse between “finishing my article” and “submitting my article.”

 

One would think that after writing something that has a deadline, with an editor waiting in the wings, a writer would IMMEDIATELY finalize the piece and send it off, right?

 

Nope. Not me. That’s not how I work.

 

Sure, in my journalism days, I would write an article, give it a quick edit, then turn it in on the same day, but not anymore.

 

These days, I need to let a piece rest before I submit it.

 

So, basically, I had to hurry up and finish writing my article, then I had to wait before submitting it. I had to get into a different headspace before I could put my editing cap on and look at the article with a more analytical eye.

 

So, after I finished writing the article, I went on to do some other things. I checked emails, read a bunch of stuff online, got caught up on my socials, and spent some time reading an ebook I’m reviewing. I had let my editor know that I would get the article to her before the day was out, so I had some time.

 

And when I came back to the article later, after focusing my attention on other activities, I was able to edit and revise it to my satisfaction. It might not be to my editor’s satisfaction, but I felt it was good to go. THEN I submitted it.

 

I know it might appear to be counterproductive to let a piece sit for a while after writing it when it is due that same day (or even yesterday!), but in order to edit and revise successfully, a writer needs to come back to that piece with fresh eyes.

 

Of course, some editing can be done right after the writer finishes writing something, but if the writer REALLY wants that piece to be edited effectively, it’s a good idea to wait a while before tackling the editing so that it would be done with a renewed sense of focus.

 

So, when it comes to completing an assignment on the same day that it is due, a good approach is this: Hurry up and (write it then) wait (to edit it).

Always Have More Than One Source

 

Today’s writing blog post is a discussion about a suggestion that I added to my work habits as a freelance writer many years ago. This particular piece of advice is one I found to be valuable. The advice? “Always have more than one source.”

 

Some explanation:

 

When I was working as a freelance writer several years ago, I came across one particular market that advised writers in their guidelines to use more than one source for their work. Not only this, but a verifiable source (such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead of Wikipedia). When I was studying journalism in college, one thing which my professor stressed to us students is that we must have a legit source. Not only this, but make sure we have a source that we ourselves have checked out to be legit.

 

Then, while working as a freelance writer, I learned the value of having more than one source. Not only is having more than one source backing up a claim in your writing helps readers to accept the claim, but it also shows that you are putting in the effort to prove that your claim is sound.

 

Your source is important because you want to make sure you are getting the RIGHT kind of information for your work. This is especially important when it comes to doing research for your work. You want to make sure your source is the right one to use.

 

When I do research for an article or book I am writing, I read EVERYTHING I can about it. I am also careful about what exactly I do read for it. If the material is old (such as over ten years old), then I may still read it but keep an eye out for any recent data that would back it up. (If I don’t find it, I don’t use it.) Also, if the author does no provide any proof or evidence-based data to support what they are saying, then their work becomes questionable and I have to look for anything to support their claims myself before I will use their information. (If I don’t find anything supporting their claims, then I don’t use it. I also will not use it if another source has a better counter-argument.)

 

Reading everything about my topic has helped me to not only get a good idea of what is being written about it, but it also helps me to get an objective view of what I am reading. For example, I read one book for research which had some very interesting claims about a popular subject. I thought that since the author was using a verifiable source, it must be true. However, I later learned from another book that this particular book was full of mistakes and that the author’s source later denounced his claims, as well as announcing that they no longer had any ties with the author. That was also an eye-opener. And a good reminder to take everything I read with a grain of salt!

 

If people keep saying the same thing about the topic you are doing research for, that can be a good sign. It means that information is legit. On the other hand, if what everybody is saying is just repeating gossip or an urban legend, then consider digging deeper to get to the truth. (I have had to do this with a book I am currently editing.)

 

Have a good source for your work, yes, but be sure to have more than one good source. Make sure your source is legit. Investigate the claims to see if they are verified. You never know what one source of information would say, as well as if there’s another source out there who can set the record straight.