Writing to be published - 1.1/3
Beginning at the beginning - with you, the writer
This is part one of Part One! In total it’s a three-part series but each part has so much info that I’m splitting it up. More of Part One coming once a weekish. All of Part One is free to read but Parts Two and Three will only be for paid subscribers.
Huge thanks to those who have already signed up to support my work - I’m so very grateful. And a massive parcel of gratitude to my first “founding subscriber” - thank you for the faith you are showing! Readers who know me know I work hard to bring the best advice, whether on writing and publishing, as here, or on mental health, wellbeing and how our brains work.
Anyway, get coffee. This is a weighty post. You might need chocolate, too. You’re a writer, after all.
What type of writer are you - and what do you want to be?
Your answers will most likely change over the years because a writer is first a living human and therefore in flux. Our lives and minds change. Doors open and close. But think about these questions in terms of how you feel now:
1. What is your goal?
You can wish for more than one (and indeed some of these would not exist on their own) but I’d like you to think which is the most important for you, the sine qua non of your ambition:
Income - and, if so, is this about paying bills or the possibility of great wealth?
Self-actualisation - seeing your book in a bookshop; being able to say “I’m an author”.
Fame - where people have heard of you outside the worlds of your family, work and authors of similar books.
A successful career - where some books are more successful than others; where you might have to graft for years before success comes but where you end up with an impressive body of work, with or without the income that readers believe you have.
Just this book - you just intend to write this one book and you are unlikely to do it again.
Knowing where you stand on those questions is important to know from the start. Warning: you might not like what I’m about to say.
Income
Take a look at this, the Society of Authors (UK) report from Dec 2022, in which you’ll see that “In 2006, median author earnings were £12,330. In 2022, the median has fallen to £7,000, a drop of 33.2% based on reported figures, or 60.2% when adjusted for inflation.” (My bold.)
This low income is not necessarily about low sales but also about how royalties are worked out: often they are based not on cover price but on publisher receipts and if publishers sell at a cripplingly high discount the author gets an embarrassingly tiny revenue. A few years ago I looked at the average income I earned on each book sold (of my 20 or so books that earn royalties, which not all do as some are a fee-only model) and the figure was less than 40p. And remember that’s the average and many sales were far lower.
Don’t despair, though! Here are the ways you can earn decently:
Write a lot of books - be in it for the long haul. A writer friend of mine, Anne Rooney, earns a living by working phenomenally hard, not just at the actual writing but also the pitching ideas to publishers and building relationships with them. She also knows a lot about how publishing works, because she has taken the trouble to learn and to listen.
Have a split career - either split between two sorts of writing (your passion projects and your income-generating work) or between writing and other paid work.
Write “commercial” books - this means books in genres that typically sell in high volume: crime, horror, romance, sci-fi, for example.
Write “high concept” - books with a core idea that is so extraordinary, intriguing or otherwise compelling that a publisher can’t wait to sell it. And easy sell, in other words. (But you have to write it brilliantly, too.)
Write books for adults rather than children - don’t let JK Rowling or the fact that Julia Donaldson was the UK’s highest earning author last year get in the way of the reality that children’s books usually have very small advances (the payment you get on signing the deal and on publication). If you write children’s books, you’ll need to write many more of them - which is perfectly possible. You just need to know it.
Self-publish if in the right genres - because you keep most of the royalties yourself (and do ALL the work) there is the possibility of decent earning, but most self-published books also don’t sell many. So you still need to write the write books in the right genres and tick certain boxes.
Self-actualisation
If your book is published you can say “I’m an author” - though you can’t really say that for very long if you’re not writing another one. If you do, you’ll face increasingly irritating questions which will wreck your sense of pride. But if being able to say “I wrote a book” is enough for you, go for it. It’s no bad ambition.
Unfortunately, a fragile ego is a pretty essential part of an author and whatever level of success you have you are likely to want more and more salve for your bruises.
Self-actualisation is indeed important and worth fighting for, but it’s transient and there’s always another hill to climb. I’ve written over 100 books, many of them extremely successful, but it’s never enough because I always want to be better. The very act of becoming better is part of the self-actualisation but there is no room for rest.
So, this is not a bad ambition but it requires some realisation that your work will probably never be done. Or maybe that’s just me…
Oh, and don’t get too hung up on the idea of selling your book in a bookshop: the vast majority of books are not in most bookshops and many are not in any. You will need to get over that and become used to your relatives telling you that they didn’t see your book in the lovely bookshop in Lower Pifflington.
Fame
Unless you want to be famous for all the wrong reasons, if fame is your game then you need all (or at least three of) these four things: 1. To produce more than one or two books that are highly successful in terms of either or both prizes and sales 2. A publisher that is prepared to promote you properly (which you would think is a certainty if the first criterion is met, but it’s not a certainty) 3. The energy and ability to jump through certain hoops that the public expects of famous people. 4. Luck.
A successful career
For this you’ll need to work hard, keep understanding the market(s) you’re in, be determined to become better and better at what you do, be nimble and adaptable, spot open doors and take those opportunities and be patient. You’ll also need luck.
Did I mention talent anywhere in this? Yes, you do need some talent (and you can argue about whether that is innate or earned…) because you’re going to have to write a heck of a lot of words and most of them need to be the right words in the right order and with most of the wrong ones ruthlessly and cleanly removed so that no one even knows they were once lurking there.
Just this book
If you only intend to write one book, know this: a publisher almost certainly doesn’t want it and an agent certainly doesn’t. I’ll tell you the exception before I tell you the reason. And I’ll tell you the solution.
The exception is if you’re writing a memoir or autobiography, in which case it’s entirely reasonable that you’re only writing one. However, a publisher or agent are still most likely not to be interested. (See next paragraph.)
The reason a publisher (probably) doesn’t want it is that, unless you have an exceptional story to tell, your one book is not going to sell enough copies to justify the investment. It usually takes far more time (therefore money) to work with a debut than an established writer and the publisher almost always wants to know that there will be at least one more book from you. And the subsequent book would usually need to be in the same genre.
The reason an agent doesn’t want it is that the agent only earns a percentage of your income from the book and…see paragraph above! If the publisher usually wants a career out of you, the agent even more does so. You’ve got to be realistic.
The solution? Self-publish. But I’ll talk about the challenges of that in another post.
2. What are you reading?
The second question to consider after “Who are you?” is “What are you reading?” You’re not? Well, forget being a writer. Writers read. They read because they love reading and it informs their mind. Why should anyone read your books if you are not a reader? Get reading or stop writing for publication!
What you are reading right now matters less (as long as it exists) than what you have read fairly recently. It’s really important that you have been reading the sort of books you want to write or are writing. This is because you need to know what has been done before, what works and what doesn’t, what the readers of this sort of book want from their commitment to read. Reading is the only way to learn how writing works and different sorts of writing work differently. You need to love or at least respect these sorts of books.
So, if you’re not already, become an expert in what is being written nowadays in your proposed field.
3. What are your skills and level? Are your ambitions realistic?
Most people think they can write. Because indeed most people can string some words together and make sense. What we as writers all know is that there’s a lot more to it than that. The necessary skill is usually built up over a nearly lifetime of doing it. Practising, in other words, even if for a lot of that time we might have had no notion of doing it for a living. Making mistakes, trying things out, getting better and never stopping. If you are just starting and have never tried writing for pleasure before, you almost certainly don’t yet have the confident level required for publishing your writing.
But you could! You just need to start now. And don’t be too impatient for results. Certainly don’t make the mistake of publishing your work, even on a blog, until you’ve let some people see it. When I say people I don’t mean your mother. I mean people who are a) readers and b) not your mother. Unless your mother is a genuinely knowledgable reader or writer and works in publishing.
You need to develop a critical way of reading your own work. What is it really like? What does it compare with? Read it out loud. Imagine you’re reading it to a really bored person with an attention disorder.
You could join a writing group - but it needs to be one where people will be honest without being unkind; critical but constructive.
Keep reading and keep writing and you will get better. And better.
What about the fact that dreadful writing sometimes gets published?
And? Is that what you want? In that case, go for it and you really don’t need to read anything else I write…
A word about following rules and doing what I say
You don’t have to. But why would you not? Every rule has been broken successfully at some point by someone (I’ve broken a few myself - which is why I took so long to get published as a novelist) but by not following the rules and advice at this stage you make your chances far less.
It only makes sense to break a rule if you fully understand why it’s a good rule in the first place.
Has this given you food for thought? Do you have any questions? Will you let me help you on your writing journey? I’m here for you!
What’s coming in the next part of Part One?
Some of the following (with the rest to follow):
I’ll help you decide whether you can/should hope for what is often called “traditional” publication (where a publisher takes all the risk and you receive a small royalty) or are self-publishing or something hybrid? Do you fully understand the differences? And the consequences of your choice?
How much do you already know about the process of writing for publication? Where will you find more?
Have you been tested by rejection already? Are you ready for more?
How much energy and time do you have? (And we will look at Nanowrimo). What are you prepared or able to commit?
Do you need to think about age, disability, health?
Nicola Morgan's Brain is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, I’d love you to consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Part One of this series is free but the later parts will only be available for paid subscribers. And I am very grateful to you!