Getting a book published
For my entire adult life people have paid me to write. Whether it was for this newspaper or something they put on the television the relationship was simple- you write it, we publish it and some form of currency will arrive in your mailbox after. A year ago after my puppy died unexpectedly I wrote a children’s book and wanted to get it out to the public if possible; this is where my education regarding publishing really began. You see this time I was an unknown among a sea of unknowns trying to tell strangers that what I had in my hand was good and they should like it too. Problem is not everyone likes mushrooms on their pizza and not everyone is going to like what you write, especially when you are asking them to pony up their money to make your dream come true. Since I know some of you dream of publishing your own book I thought I’d share some of the hard truths I’ve learned and offer some advice.
First up, I need you to pretend this is the 15th century and you own armor, the kind knights wore into battle. Nowput it on because what comes next takes some tough skin. Most people in the publishing world won’t believe in you. I know they’ve never met you but every day their inbox is filled with the hopes and dreams of wanna be writers and they assume 99% of it is unmarketable crap. They are not in the business of making your dreams come true, they just want to make money. Period. They will help you if it is in their best interest.
When my children’s story “God Needed A Puppy” was done and illustrated I knew I could self-publish it but decided to at least try to get a traditional publisher on board. So I searched and searched for an agent or publishing house, big or small, that accepts unsolicited manuscripts. They are certainly out there. First thing you’ll notice is there are lots of companies pretending to be “publishers” who want to sell you their products. They know you are desperate so they dangle hope in front of you and promise if you give them a few hundred bucks they can help. I don’t want to indict them all but what they are looking to do is polish up your work and hand it back to you, no closer to it getting published.
Once you’ve navigated passed those charlatans you’ll find yourself submitting your book. Follow their rules to a “T” or prepare for them to toss it in the trash. If they don’t want the whole book don’t send them the whole book. If they want a one page summary with no artwork then do that, don’t deviate. And once you’ve sent your stuff to everyone you could find on Google sit back and be ready for rejection because trust me it’s coming. Some of these strangers will ignore you, others will respond and say it’s not for them and once in a while you get a real note from a real person who actually read your words and is letting you down gently. If I’m ever a billionaire and own a publishing house someday I will encourage my people to be like that.
In my case after being ignored or rejected by about 50 companies and agents I looked into self-publishing the book and at the top of my list was The Troy Book Makers. I dealt with a talented young woman named Jessika (with a K) and it became clear this was my book and I could do what I wanted with it. If this was something for me and family we could produce just 50 copies. If I wanted to do more, I could do more. I don’t want to mislead you, it is not cheap but it’s probably cheaper than you might expect. Initially I was going to spend a couple thousand dollars and produce a small amount of books. Turns out people believed in the book more than I expected and we ended up printing up thousands more. Because I’m donating proceeds to animal shelters I’m not making money on it but that wasn’t why I wrote it.
After selling 10,000 copies a literary agent in a smaller boutique agency took an interest in my story and they are now representing me. Which means they are now the ones getting the rejection letters from strangers who can’t see the virtue in a small book helping children over the loss of a pet.
I don’t know where this road leads or if and when a second book I’ve written on my blind and deaf dog Keller will come out but I know you have to wade through a swamp of rejection to hear that one “yes.” And if you have written something special to you that you want to leave for your grandchildren then I recommend you consider self-publishing. If it comes from your heart it is already a best seller.
I hope this helped and wish me luck that this Troy boy can get that big publishing deal and help children everywhere.