WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO GET YOUR FIRST BOOK PUBLISHED

About half the interactions with my readers follow a similar pattern. They tell me they liked a book of mine, and promise me they would preorder the next book. And just when I’m halfway in my celebratory fist-pump they ask me if I could help them finish and/ or help publish their book. I swallow my anger and point them towards Google, often at the cost of being called selfserving and arrogant before being told that they had never bought any of my books and never will. Some even go on to threaten to the wipe the floor with me when their book gets published. So to help things along, I thought it would be best to compile a short list of things not to do when trying to publish your first book (because whatever you can do to get a book published, it already on the internet).

DON’T HOUND COMMISSIONING EDITORS

We tend to believe that no one except us is doing their jobs well. Believe me, editors are. They get no joy out of sitting idly on a manuscript. Nothing would give them greater happiness than churning out a bestseller. A barrage of mails doesn’t help their cause. Don’t make them hit Spam on your mails.

DON’T HOUND PUBLISHED WRITERS

It’s hard to earn as a full-time writer. Every minute that is spent guiding others how to write/publish exacts chunks of time, concentration and revenue from desolate day of any writer. It sounds rude but if you put it into perspective, teachers don’t go around teaching the neighbourhood kids for free. What’s even worse is that none of the published writers would add anything of value over what you can find on Google.

DON’T LET A REJECTION/ ACCEPTANCE GET TO YOUR HEAD

A rejection is an editor’s response to your book and not an audience response so don’t take it personally. So is an acceptance. An acceptance to publish a book is no more than a nod to printing 300 odd pages 4000 times. Nine times out of ten, you don’t change the world. There’s no shame in rejection, there’s no glory in acceptance, and there’s no glory in getting accepted after getting rejected.

DON’T STOP WRITING

Almost everyone who’s trying to get their first book published isn’t writing their second book. They want to see how the first book will do before they begin the second one. That’s ridiculous. In an industry, where nothing sells more than 10,000 copies, it’s a fool’s dream. If writing is important to you, you’ll do it regardless of how your book does.

DON’T NETWORK

Most times it’s amusing, and I insist on it. Do a lot of it but know that it’s probably the most useless of activities that both unpublished or published writers do. Fun as they are, it won’t get your book published.

A rejection is an editor’s response to your book and not an audience response so don’t take it personally. Don’t let it go into your head

If your writing is important to you, you will continue to write regardless of how your first book does DURJOY DUTTA, AUTHOR